Israel hunts Hamas mastermind

Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer hailed the killing in a commando raid as an ‘‘impressive achievement’’, saying Taher was ‘‘a murderer, a planner and an engineer’’ responsible for the deaths of at least 117 Israelis in suicide bombings.

‘‘This is the most important operation of the past two months,’’ Ben-Eliezer told Israel’s Army Radio. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has sent tanks to reoccupy seven West Bank cities in response to back-to-back suicide bombings, said Israel was acting in self-defence and would ‘‘continue to do that…until there is an end to terror’’. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said: ‘‘We condemn the assassinations of two Palestinians in Nablus. This is Sharon’s plan to escalate the situation.’’

He accused the US of giving Sharon the green light for such attacks and criticised the international community for staying silent. Israel has been emboldened and the Palestinians angered by US President George W. Bush’s call last week for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to be replaced with new leaders ‘‘uncompromised by terror’’.

Adding to pressure on the Palestinians, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday Washington was no longer talking to Arafat and had no plans to do so in the future. Despite attempts to sideline him, Arafat, speaking by satellite link to an audience in Switzerland on Sunday, offered to meet Bush ‘‘any time, anywhere’’ to promote peace.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli special forces surrounded the home of a Taher associate in Nablus on Sunday, ordered its occupants to evacuate and opened fire after most had Left. Taher, 26, and one of his deputies were killed and a third militant was wounded, Israeli security sources said.

Israel has killed scores of militants it says were behind attacks on Israelis. Palestinians have branded the killings ‘‘war crimes’’ and the practice has been condemned internationally.

Palestinian security sources described Taher as ‘‘the Engineer-4’’, head of Hamas’s military wing in Nablus and a master bomb-maker. Israeli military sources said Taher had a hand in almost all of the most recent suicide attacks, including the bombing of a Jerusalem city bus that killed 19 people nearly two weeks ago. Ben-Eliezer said others would rise up to take Taher’s place. ‘‘There is no lack of engineers,’’ he said. ‘‘In my opinion the whole subject of terror is a bottomless well. We will continue to do what we have to do.’’

The military wing of Hamas, an Islamic group sworn to Israel’s destruction, said ‘‘more potential martyrs are joining the queue waiting patiently to meet their God’’.

‘‘The invasion of our cities, villages and refugee camps will not bring security to the Zionists,’’ it said in a statement. ‘‘They must either leave or die on our land.’’

Arafat, who has announced Palestinian elections for January, said it was impossible to carry out reforms demanded by the international community while Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory remained ‘‘complete and total’’.

Israeli forces have kept a grip on Palestinian-ruled cities in the West Bank after a major new offensive following suicide bombings that killed 26 Israelis on June 18 and 19.

Witnesses said three Israeli tanks and a bulldozer entered the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early on Monday and demolished seven houses. They fired shells and Israeli troops exchanged fire with armed Palestinians. Hospital sources said a gunman and a civilian were wounded.

An 18-year-old Palestinian shot by troops on Sunday during a stone-throwing protest in the Deheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem died on Monday, hospital sources said.

(Reuters)