Israeli Forces Kill a Top Leader of Islamic Group in West Bank, firing rockets from a helicopter at his van outside Nablus.

The man, Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, had

been wanted by the Israelis since at least

1995, and his escapes from previous

attempts to capture or kill him had gained

him a reputation in the West Bank as “the

man with seven lives.” Among other

terrorist operations, Mr. Hanoud was

accused by Israel of planning two suicide

bombings here in 1997 that killed 21.

Mr. Hanoud, who was in his mid- 30’s, was

the senior military leader in the West Bank

of Hamas, which pledged revenge for the

killing.

The Israelis’ choice of this moment — after the deaths of the five Palestinian schoolchildren who apparently kicked unexploded ordnance the Israelis had left in hopes of killing terrorists. and the shooting by Israel’s security forces of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy at the schoolchildren’s funeral, with the region poised for the arrival of Dubya’s envoys pursuing the Administration’s first peace initiative — certainly raises questions to this naive observer about whether they are interested in sabotaging the peace effort irrevocably.

There’s this curious paragraph in the article:

Mr.

Hanoud’s face was destroyed in the

attack, and he was identified by his shoe

size, a surgical scar on his back and a

shoulder injury from the first Intifada,

Palestinian officials said. The Israeli Army

declined to comment.

Could it be that Hanoud was not really killed but that Hamas is intent on creating that impression?