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Israeli Tourism Minister Shot Dead
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's tourism minister, notorious for using the line: "Let the Arabs go back to Mecca", was shot dead in a hotel in Occupied East Jerusalem early Wednesday, news agencies reported.
Rehavam Zeevi died in a hospital after being shot in the head, a hospital official said on Israel's public radio.
The shooting was claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who had vowed revenge against Israel for the assassination of its leader, Abu Ali Mustapha - who was blown up in his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah by an Israeli missile on August 27th.
Zeevi died in hospital after being shot three times in the head and throat inside Jerusalem's Hyatt Hotel, said the BBC's online news service.
He died at 10:00am local time (0800 GMT) about three hours after being shot, said Shmuel Shapira, deputy director of Hadassah Hospital.
"After prolonged efforts to revive him... the doctors saw that all hope had totally ended," Shapira said.
Zeevi was the hardline head of the nationalist Moledet Party, and resigned from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government on Monday in protest to Israel's military pullout from the Palestinian town of Al-Khalil (Hebron), which Israel invaded last week.
His resignation had been due to take effect at 1300 local time (1100 GMT) later on Wednesday.
Zeevi had been in the dining room of the hotel with his wife when he made his way up to their room on the eighth floor, police said.
Once there, he was approached by two gunmen who shot him several times, including twice in the head, reported the BBC.
When his wife followed him up to their room ten minutes later, she found him lying in front of the door, police said.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas did not condemn the killing, saying that it was the consequence of Israel's internationally condemned policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders during the year-old Intifada, or uprising, said Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israel's assassinations of Palestinians and resistance leaders have been strongly condemned by the international community, including the U.S. - Israel's staunchest ally.
"I think the reasons for the shooting of Zeevi was Sharon and his policies, which included the assassination of political leaders and children," said Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, whose own group has been battered by Israel's policy of eliminating political leaders.
"Who started killing political leaders? The Jews. And now they pay the price," Rantisi added.
"They chose to be killed. We accept this game."
Since the start of al-Aqsa Intifada, more than 60 Palestinian resistance activists have been assassinated by Israel's occupying forces - with three members of the Hamas resistance movement assassinated within the past week.
Zeevi favored the expulsion of all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a land granted to Palestinian people under United Nations resolutions and international law.
U.S. President George W. Bush declared earlier this month his support for an independent Palestinian state which would include within its borders the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority condemned the shooting and cautioned against a new cycle of violence, which would further undermine an already shaky truce. Arafat has recently cracked down on violence in a move lauded by both the U.S. and Israel.
Sharon declared the shooting of Zeevi effectively ended all agreements.
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official said Wednesday that Arafat bore part of the responsibility for the killing of Zeevi by what he called, "failing to crack down on extremists."
"We hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for not having acted against terrorists," Avi Pazner, a spokesman for Sharon, told AFP.
He said the PFLP, which claimed responsibility for the early morning assassination, was an "official Palestinian organization", whose new leader, Ahmad Sadat, is based in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Pazner added that the move would delay any serious progress in peace talks to end the year-long Palestinian uprising, which has already claimed almost 700 Palestinian lives - the majority of whom are under 18.
All Israeli ministers were ordered Wednesday to stay at home until further notice.
Jerusalem police chief Micky Levy said he could not confirm the order, adding that personal protection for politicians was the responsibility of the internal security service, Shin Beth.
Israeli Ministers have said they have been provided with extra bodyguards in recent months, but several refused the new security measures, including Zeevi.
Sharon ordered discussions on the security issue later in the day, while Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, in apparent contradiction of the order to stay home, visited Zeevi at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital before he died, Israel's public radio said.
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