The belief is that this was done by the PFLP in response to the assasination by Israel several months ago, of the PFLP head Abu Ali Mostafa. (http://www.indymedia.org.il/imc/israel/webcast/display.php3?article_id=6395 ).
The Hyatt he was staying at is on Mount Scopus (near Hebrew University) which is surrounded on all sides by Palestinian villages and East Jerusalem. It was a perfect place to do the assasination and then run in any direction to safety.
Last update - 08:15 17/10/2001
ZE'EVI CRITICALLY WOUNDED IN JERUSALEM ASSASSINATION BID
By Amos Harel and Baruch Kra, Ha'aretz Correspondents
Gunmen critically wounded cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi early Monday near his room in Jerusalem's Hyatt Hotel, hospital officials said.
A senior physician at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Carem Hospital said that Ze'evi had been shot in the head. News reports said he may also have sustained a neck wound.
Ze'evi, leader of the far-right National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu bloc, announced Monday that he and party colleague Avigdor Lieberman were resigning from the government in protest over cabinet decisions they viewed as too soft on Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. The resignations were to have taken effect later on Wednesday.
Ze'evi's wife said Wednesday that she found him "Lying, without a pulse" on the floor of the hotel hallway in front of their room.
The gunmen, whose identity was not known, apparently escaped. The hotel is located adjacent to Arab east Jerusalem and to Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank.
Professor Shmuel Shapira, deputy director of Hadassah Ein Carem, said "The most senior team at Hadassah is treating him, senior surgeons, neurosurgeons and anesthetists, and we will do everything we can." The area around the Hyatt was in chaos, with large numbers of police arriving and a manhunt begun for the gunmen.
Palestinian militant groups have warned in the past that if Israel continued its policy of targeted killings of suspected terrorist commanders and other Palestinian figures, Israeli officials would become targets as well. But there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting.
_______________________________________________
Sharon, Peres, Blair, Bush....everyone says that they would accept a Palestinian state. But that means nothing in and of itself. The important factor is not whether they would accept a Palestinian state, but which state they are talking about. Peres has for years backed a Palestinian state...in Gaza, with semi-autonomy, along the Allon Plan in the West Bank...and anyway, Peres is one of the major backers of Barak's final status Camp David card trick where they promised 95 percent and East Jerusalem, but were really going to give the palestinans only slightly less than 80 percent (in islands) plus an expanded jewish Jerusalem...Barak at the time stated that his final agreement was that 80 % of the settlements would remain and be annexed by Israel.. (http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/offers.doc) ...but besides that, Barak and Peres definitely accept a Palestinan state. Sharon would be all for a Palestinian state, as long as it was no more that a one room apartment on the fifth floor of a bombed out apartment complex in Gaza...but he definitely accepts the idea of a Palestinan state. Since June, 2001 the Sharon government have established 10 new settlements in the West Bank (http://www.indymedia.org.il/imc/israel/webcast/display.php3?article_id=8220 ).
Bryan Atinsky IMC-Israel English Editorial Coordinator http://www.indymedia.org.il
----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Kromm" <ckromm at mindspring.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 4:37 AM Subject: Sharon may accept Palestinian state
> We'll see how far this goes. But still...
> CK
>
>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1603000/1603565.st
> m
>
> From BBC News October 16, 2001
>
> Sharon may accept Palestinian state
>
> Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he would agree to an
> independent Palestinian state if Israel's security was guaranteed, Israel
> radio reports.
> Mr Sharon - speaking to members of his right-wing Likud party - said he
> would personally lead any future peace talks with the Palestinians.
>
> He has ruled out peace talks with the Palestinians unless a ceasefire
holds
> for at least 48 hours.
>
> In further violence, a member of the hardline Palestinian group Hamas was
> killed in an explosion in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday - the third militant
to
> be killed in as many days.
>
> There are conflicting reports about the cause of the blast that killed
Eyad
> al Akhrass, a member of the armed wing of Hamas.
>
> A local Hamas leader blamed Israel for the explosion in the man's home in
> the Rafah refugee camp.
>
> But another Hamas source told the BBC that the blast happened while the
man
> was preparing a bomb.
>
> Israeli authorities are investigating the third violent death of a Hamas
> member since the weekend.
>
> The two men who died on Sunday and Monday were on Israel's wanted list.
>
> Israel confirmed that it carried out the first killing, which Mr Sharon
> warned would not be the last.
>
> Israeli officials said the man, Abdul Rahman Hamad, was behind the bombing
> of a Tel Aviv nightclub in June in which more than twenty young Israelis
> were killed.
>
> US criticism
>
> After Palestinians blamed Israel for the death of another militant in an
> explosion on Monday, the United States repeated its opposition to
"targeted
> killings".
>
>
>
> We want to see an independent Palestinian state, successful, flourishing.
We
> think that the better the Palestinians will have it, the better neighbour
we
> shall have
>
> Shimon Peres
>
> Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres - speaking on a visit to the Czech
> Republic - said Israel was willing to end its policy of killing militants
> provided the Palestinian authorities arrested them instead.
>
> Mr Peres also expressed support for the creation of a Palestinian state,
> following similar statements by US President George Bush and UK Prime
> Minister Tony Blair, who met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in London on
> Monday.
>
> Mr Sharon's announcement late on Tuesday that he would agree to a
> Palestinian state if Israel's security demands were met was seen mainly as
a
> result of intensifying international pressure.
>
> Peace plan
>
> A report published in London said Israel was about to propose a peace plan
> to the United States.
>
> The Foreign Report publication, from the respected Jane's defence analysis
> group, said Mr Sharon had been convinced by Mr Peres to make the offer
after
> finding out that Mr Bush intended to propose his own Middle East plan.
>
> Mr Sharon said an eventual Palestinian state would be demilitarised but
> would have a police force, Israel radio reported.
>
> Mr Peres, the leader of Israel's Labour Party and a keen advocate of peace
> talks, is believed to be in a stronger political position after the
> resignation of two ultra-nationalist members of Mr Sharon's coalition
> government on Monday.
>
> Mr Sharon accused the defectors of playing into the hands of Palestinian
> leader Yasser Arafat.
>
> The hardliners quit the government in protest against the withdrawal of
some
> Israeli troops from the West Bank town of Hebron and plans to lift
sanctions
> against Palestinians.
>
> Some Jewish settlers in Hebron were arrested during clashes with the
> withdrawing Israeli forces on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
>
> The settlers said they would be left unprotected from Palestinian snipers
> who had earlier fired at them from two hills.
>
> Israeli troops occupied the two hills overlooking Hebron earlier this
month,
> but withdrew after Palestinians reportedly agreed to prevent further
> shooting.
>
>
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