Palestinian leader killed in pinpoint attack

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN) AUG. 27. Mr. Abu Ali Mustafa, Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), became the senior most political figure to fall victim to the Israeli practice of targeted assassinations when he was killed in a rocket attack on his office in Ramallah.

Israel claims that Mr. Mustafa was the head of a terrorist network that was responsible for the last eight car bombings, that he was planning more such attacks and that their action was hence a self-defence measure. On the other hand, the Palestinians insist that Mr. Mustafa (65) was a purely political leader and that the attack represented a dangerous escalation aimed at destroying whatever was left of the peace process.

An Israeli helicopter gunship was reported to have fired several missiles at the PLFP office in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Monday morning. Mr. Mustafa was at his desk when he was killed and several other Palestinians were reported to have been wounded. Mr. Mustafa became head of the PLFP, a relatively minor faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, when its founder and long-time leader, Mr. George Habash, stepped down last year. The PLFP has been opposed to the Oslo processes but Israel has not till now talked much about its association with terrorist activity.

Today's attack came after a meeting of Israel's Security Cabinet which had decided to continue with the three- pronged policy it has adopted for the present phase of the Palestinian uprising. According to Haaretz, the policy includes an immediate military response to all Palestinian attacks, active defence operations in order to safeguard roads for Israeli travellers, and ``targeted killings'' aimed at Palestinians who are about to carry out terror attacks. Though Israel has linked the latest killing to the PLFP leaders alleged involvement in terrorist activity, it is also noteworthy that this stepped-up form of operation has occurred after a daring Palestinian commando raid on an Israeli military post in the Gaza Strip.

In that attack on Friday night, three Palestinian gun- men infiltrated the Israeli military outpost and shot at and threw grenades at the soldiers inside. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack and two of the gunmen were also shot dead. After the incident video-tapes were released from the Palestinian side which showed that the gun-men were operating at the behest of yet another minor faction of the PLO, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

However, both gun-men were till then believed to be members of the dominant PLO faction Fatah. One possibility being mentioned is that the various factions have now come together under the rubric of the National and Religious resistance committees and are operating in concert.

If this interpretation is correct, then it would appear that the attack was not only, or even directly, connected to Mr. Mustafa's alleged involvement in terrorist activity. It could well be that Israel has concluded that the Palestinians have developed their resistance movement to a particular stage and that the Israeli response has to be similarly scaled upwards. The most likely outcome of today's action is that the Palestinian side will now think of some ways of taking revenge for the killing of a person they regard as a political figure.

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Section  : International
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