Israel kills top Hamas official as US pushes ME roadmap

An elite squad of Israeli borderguards gunned down Abdullah Qawasmeh, considered the top Hamas official in the West Bank, as he tried to escape them in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli military sources said.

The killing appeared to fall in line with Israel's policy of assassinating wanted militants which has already resulted in the deaths of at least 100 Palestinians since the intifada erupted in September 2000.

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Qawasmeh's death came the day after US Secretary of State Colin Powell traveled here to press Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian premier Mahmud Abbas to implement the US-backed Middle East peace roadmap.

But Israel apparently felt free to employ hardball tactics with Hamas after Powell's brief visit.

Powell declared Hamas Friday an enemy of peace and told Abbas he should not wait for the Islamic radicals to sign a truce deal before moving ahead with the roadmap, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005.

The Israeli military sources said Qawasmeh was the mastermind for at least five attacks on Israel, including the June 11 suicide bombing of a bus in West Jerusalem that claimed 17 lives, plus the bomber.

That suicide attack, along with a botched Israeli assassination attempt on Hamas official Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi on June 10, helped usher in a wave of violence that claimed the lives of at least 60 Israelis and Palestinians and jeopardised hopes for the roadmap.

The killing of Qawasmeh was certain to incite Hamas to seek revenge and push Abbas toward a moment of truth as Hamas is now sure to resist any freeze on attacks against Israel.

Powell, meanwhile, is expected to meet Sunday the other members of the Middle East peace "quartet" who drafted the "roadmap" -- the European Union, Russia and United Nations -- on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum (WEF) in Jordan.

The Israeli foreign ministry said Saturday it had been informed by US officials that Rice would visit the region next week. It did not give an exact date, but public radio said Rice would arrive in the region on June 28 for a 24-hour visit.

It said she was slated to meet with Sharon and his Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom.

A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said Rice could meet with Abbas next week at the US consulate in east Jerusalem as part of efforts to get the sides to stay the course of the US-backed peace "roadmap."

Meanwhile, Israel's killing of a West Bank chief of the radical Islamic movement Hamas "will not go unpunished", senior Hamas official Abdulaziz al-Rantissi told AFP Sunday.

"Zionist terrorist operations will not go unpunished. It clearly shows that the Zionist enemy will continue to shed Palestinian blood," he said, adding "Hamas will respond to this new crime."

Abdullah Qawasmeh, considered the top Hamas official in the West Bank, was killed by an elite unit of Israel's borderguard which had come to arrest him in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli military sources said Saturday.