For the second day in succession, Israel failed yesterday in an assassination attempt on a man it alleged was a leading Palestinian militant - with both the frequency and targets of these failed hits indicating that Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon is escalating his policy of so-called "targeted attacks". In other violence yesterday, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in Gaza, and an Israeli boy of the same age was badly hurt in Hebron.
While Palestinian spokespeople - from moderates to radicals - insist that every Israeli assassination attempt merely fuels Palestinian anger and thus triggers heightened Intifada violence, the Israeli government is showing no sign of wavering. Defence Minister Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said yesterday that such actions were being taken "for self-preservation", and Mr Dore Gold, an aide to Mr Sharon, elaborated that, were it not for the dozens of such strikes in recent months, the death toll among Israeli civilians would be much higher. More than 530 Palestinians and 150 Israelis have been killed in almost 11 months of daily confrontation.
Yesterday's failed hit came in mid-morning on the main road of the West Bank city of Nablus. An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at the car driven by Mr Jihad Miseemy, alleged by Israel to be co-ordinating shooting attacks by Tanzim militants on Israeli settlers.
Mr Miseemy (46),was injured in the attack, but was well enough in hospital later in the day, to declare that his life, like anybody else's, was "in the hands of Allah" rather than those of Mr Sharon, "despite all his sophisticated American weaponry". The significance of the attack on Mr Miseemy lies in the fact that he holds the rank of colonel in the Palestinian police, is deputy police chief in Nablus and sits on the Supreme Council of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction; the strike against him was the closest Israel has come to date to targeting Mr Arafat's immediate circle.
At the very hour that Mr Miseemy was escaping with his life, hundreds of people were attending the funeral in Gaza's Shati refugee camp of Mr Bilal al-Ghoul, who was killed in a previous Israeli assassination effort, on Wednesday. Tellingly, the milit ary funeral, authorised by Mr Arafat, was also attended by activists from Hamas and various other Palestinian factions - all now unified in their calls for revenge. "And the next stage of the revenge", declared Hamas spokesman Mr Mahmoud al-Zahar, "is coming soon." Mr Sharon should "prepare the coffins", Hamas activists shouted during the funeral.
Mr al-Ghoul was not the intended victim of the missile attack on Wednesday. The target was his father Adnan, alleged by Israel to be a prime Hamas bombmaker. Israeli officials yesterday rejected Hamas claims that Mr Mohammad Deif, the head of the Hamas "military wing", was also at the scene of the failed hit and escaped. "There was no screw-up here," said Mr Ben-Eliezer. "Sometimes we succeed more, sometimes less."
Miriam Donohoe adds from Beijing: Mr Arafat was en route to China last night on the final stage of his whistlestop Asian tour which has seen him in India and Pakistan seeking support for his proposals to resolve the Middle East conflict. In Pakistan, Mr Arafat briefed Pakistan's military ruler, Mr Pervez Musharraf, on the outcome of Tuesday's Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo.Unlike India and China, which both have military links with Israel, Pakistan has no relations with the Jewish state.