CAIRO, February 16 (IslamOnline.net) – The grisly assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri opened a new chapter in a bloody book of political murders in the volatile Middle East that has for long hardly known compromise or peaceful power-transfer.

The equation of Arab-Israeli conflict has always added a sense of mystery to most such bloody occurrences, along with the dominance of repressive regimes.

One of the highest-profile assassinations of all in recent history of the Middle East was the murder of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat on October 6, 1981, while attending a military parade marking the victory of October 6, 1973, over Israel.

Sadat's murder was attributed by his assassin, Khalid Al-Islambuli, to the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s visit to Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem) and the signing of a peace treaty with Israel.

The over-half-a-century-long history of Arab-Israeli conflict was also the driving force behind many other assassinations in the Arab world.

Chief among the blood-dripping list was the killing of Jordanian King Abdullah I who was shot by a Palestinian citizen in July 1951, while entering Al-Aqsa mosque, with his nephew Prince Hussein, who became King Hussein and father of current Jordanian King Abdullah II.

Of course the ongoing (currently on hold) Israeli killings of Palestinian resistance leaders and international dignitaries who mediate objectively in the deep-rooted conflict, also make remarkable spots in the bloody file.

The bloody cycle began with the murder of Palestinian resistance leader Sheikh Ezz Eddine Al-Qassam on November 19, 1935 by Jewish agents. The military wing of Palestinian resistance group Hamas is named after him.

Other chapters of the bloody book contain the assassination of UN representative Count Bernadot in 1948, in addition to Palestinian resistance leaders in Lebanon in the 1960s and 1970s, at the hands of Israeli undercover agents.

A few years later, Palestinian resistance leader Abu Jihad was killed in Tunisia by Israeli agents.

In early 1996, Israel assassinated Palestinian resistance leader Yehia Ayash in the occupied Palestinian territories.

With the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, Israeli assassinations of Palestinian resistance leaders – military and political – turned into a state policy known as “targeted killings”.

Abu Ali Mostafa, Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was killed on August 17, 2001, at his Ramallah office by Israeli agents.

After less than two years, wheel-chaired Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and leader of Hamas, was torn into pieces on March 22, 2004, when an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles at him while he was leaving the mosque after performing dawn prayers.

His successor Abdul Aziz Al-Rantissi was assassinated April 17, 2004, in northern Gaza.

With the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation, new chapters of the assassination file are expected to emerge.

Sadat was assassinated for signing a peace agreement with Israel.

With Israel coming to enjoy – in the collective Arab memory – an infamous reputation of resorting to assassinations in dealing with its enemies, any mysterious hit in the Arab world would bring the image of long-feared Mossad -- Israeli intelligence service – to mind.

As a case in point, former Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi Al-Tal was assassinated on November 28, 1971, in front of the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo during a meeting of the joint Arab Defense Council.

The assassination, however, was carried out in reprisal to the bloody events between Palestinians and Jordanian security forces in 1970, which left hundreds of Palestinian resistance men killed.

In some cases, seizing the murderer red-handed did not put an end to conspiracy theories or even close assassination files.

To name an example, former Saudi king Faisal was gunned down on March 25, 1975, by one of his nephews in the cabinet headquarters.

The killer was arrested with the crime weapon in hand, and was executed at sword point, but that was not enough to settle the case.

Speculations on his motives kept raging, with some theories saying internal conflict within the Saudi royal family was to blame and others directing the blame at US and Zionist agents, citing the king’s role in imposing the oil embargo on the pro-Israel nations during the October 1973 war.

Iraq, currently under US occupation, was also the scene of very bloody chapter of the book of political assassinations, due to internal power struggle.

During the 1958 revolution against the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi king Faisal and his family were crushed to death.