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  Monday  July 29  2002    01: 50 AM

Time to stop the liquidations

Amid the plethora of ludicrous excuses and buck-passing in the wake of the brutal military operation in which a one-ton bomb was dropped on a residential dwelling, killing 16 civilians, one question has been forgotten: Was the act of the liquidation itself, which everyone has praised to the skies, either legitimate or wise?

This is what happens during the course of the slide down the slippery slope - what was just yesterday still the subject of public debate, at least at some level, has now become self-evident. It is now taken for granted that in the war on terrorism, liquidations are both necessary and permissible; it is taken for granted that the state has the right to execute people without trial almost as often as it pleases, provided those marked for death are terrorists, or individuals whom the state defines as terrorists.
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Israel, the US and the world: a conflict of perceptions
While much of the world views Israel as militarily aggressive, inside the country the sense of encirclement and threat prevails. This conflict of perceptions helps to fuel Israel’s extensive weapons purchase and upgrade projects, reinforcing the country’s intimate defence connections with the United States.