Israeli Cabinet minister assassinated

By Laurie Copans

Associated Press

JERUSALEM – One or more gunmen, lurking in a hotel hallway, shot and killed an Israeli Cabinet minister today with three bullets to the head and neck. A radical Palestinian faction said it carried out the assassination to avenge the killing of its leader by Israel two months ago.

The killing of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, 75, who advocated the ouster of all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, was the first ever assassination of a serving Cabinet minister by Palestinians.

The attack threatened to re-ignite the cycle of violence that has wracked the Holy Land for the last year and was expected to trigger a sweeping Israeli retaliation. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would wage a “war to the finish against the terrorist, their helpers and those who sent them.”

In a first response, Israel reimposed some travel restrictions in the West Bank it had lifted earlier this week as part of a Sept. 26 truce deal that had appeared to be taking hold in many areas.

The Israeli Cabinet was to meet later today, and Sharon spokesman Arnon Perlman indicated a military strike was an option.

“What happened today requires a reassessment in all fields – military, political and international,” Sharon spokesman Arnon Perlman told Israeli television. “This reassessment will have heavy significance.”

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s government said in a statement that it condemned the killing and remained committed to a truce with Israel. Palestinian security officials said Arafat has ordered the arrests of the suspected assailants.

“We stand against all political assassinations, despite the fact that Mr. Zeevi espoused hostile policies toward the Palestinian people, including advocating the forced transfer of millions of Palestinians,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian information minister.

The Palestinian Authority said it had warned in the past against the dangers of assassination, suggesting Israel’s targeted killings of Palestinian militants accused of attacks on Israelis could lead to escalation.

In the past year of fighting, Israel has killed more than 50 Palestinians, including several bystanders, in such attacks.

Sharon said he lays responsibility for the killing “squarely on Arafat.”

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the killing of Zeevi, saying it came as revenge for the slaying of its leader, Mustafa Zibri, the highest-ranking target killed by Israel so far. Zibri was killed by an Israeli rocket attack Aug. 27.

The PFLP, which the United States includes on its list of terrorist groups, released a video showing three masked gunmen standing next to a large poster of Zibri. Reading a statement, one of the gunmen said, “Rehavam Zeevi will only be the first” and suggested that two more killings would follow.

In a Lebanese refugee camp, PFLP supporters cheered, danced and distributed sweets to celebrate the killing.

Sharon said earlier this week that he would not abandon the targeted killings, despite the truce and sharp U.S. condemnation of the practice. Three members of the militant Hamas group were killed this week, and Israel claimed the first, saying the target had planned an attack at a Tel Aviv disco that killed 22.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer demanded that Arafat extradite the leaders of the PFLP to Israel.

Zeevi, who lives in Ramat-Hasharon, a Tel Aviv suburb, was staying with his wife at the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem today.

At about 7 a.m., he was returning from the hotel restaurant to the eighth floor when he was attacked outside his room, police said. He was shot three times in the head and face. There was speculation the assailants used a silencer, and witnesses said they heard muffled sounds. Zeevi’s wife, Yael, found him in the hallway, lying on his back in a pool of blood, witnesses said.

A fellow hotel guest, Rev. David Hocking, said he rushed into the hall after hearing Mrs. Zeevi’s screams. “I saw her kneeling over him … The blood was everywhere,” said Hocking, who is leading a Christian tour group from Orange County, Calif.

Zeevi had been a target of many verbal threats and was entitled to a bodyguard. However, he rejected protection as a matter of principle, fellow ministers said. While parliament was in session, Zeevi stayed at the Hyatt Hotel in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem to underscore Israel’s claim to all of the disputed city. Zeevi resisted suggestions to change his hotel room from time to time, fellow ministers said.

The slaying came two days after Zeevi’s far-right National Union faction announced its departure from Sharon’s coalition government because it opposed Sharon’s decision to ease security restrictions against the Palestinians.

The resignation was to take effect today, but a member of the faction announced he was withdrawing the move following Zeevi’s death.

Zeevi served from 1974 to 1977 as adviser to then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the war against terrorism. He opposed Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt and in 1988 founded the far-right Moledet Party.

He sparked controversy in July for referring to Palestinians working and living illegally in Israel as “lice” and a “cancer.”

He was widely known by the incongruous nickname “Gandhi,” acquired because his youthful thinness reminded people of the pacifist Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi.