Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.

Israeli Court Declines to Ban Military's Targeted Killings
----------------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&c=745284&l=1009&ctl=15527ED:A6F02AD83191E16002903C16C2BB7AA69574F7DCC14957C0 Israeli group
B'Tselem estimates 339 Palestinians, including 129 bystanders, have
been killed by targeted assassinations since the year 2000





Palestinians inspect damage to a room in the Council of Ministers
building that houses office of Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh, after it
was hit in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Sunday, July 2,
2006

Israel's top court has declined to ban the military's practice of
carrying out targeted killings of Palestinian militants.

But the three-judge panel unanimously ruled the practice is not always
legal, leaving it up to the military to evaluate operations on a
case-by-case basis. The court said it is concerned about the deaths of
innocent bystanders.

Israel's military has routinely used the practice against militants
during the past six years of violence.

On Wednesday, the court approved construction of a controversial
section of the separation barrier between Jerusalem and the West Bank,
rejecting an appeal by local Arab residents. The court said the
barrier was critical to preventing potential Palestinian suicide
bombers from entering Jerusalem.

Several human rights groups brought the case against targeted
assassinations.  An Israeli group (B'Tselem) estimates that 339
Palestinians, including 129 bystanders, have been killed by targeted
assassinations since the year 2000. 

In 2002, Israel dropped a one ton bomb on a house in the Gaza Strip,
killing a senior Hamas operative. The bomb also killed at least eight
children.

In the northern West Bank Thursday, Palestinian medical officials say
Israeli soldiers shot dead two men.

In the first incident, witnesses say Israeli troops entered a refugee
camp in Nablus dressed as civilians and killed a member of the radical
Islamic Jihad group.

In a second incident, witnesses say a man in the village of Kafr
al-Dik was shot and killed by Israeli troops who encountered stone
throwers. The Israeli military said the man was about to throw a
cement block at the troops.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


.