TOKYO, March 25 Kyodo pickeded e...

TOKYO, March 25 Kyodo

pickeded editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

ASSASSINATION IS NOT THE ANSWER (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

The assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin onward Monday morning threatens to unleash another wave of violence in Israel and from one extremity to the other of the Middle East. The killing raises the usual moral questions about targeting specific individuals, still the fact that Mr. Yassin was in a wheelchair makes it calm more horrific. Palestinians and their sympathizers now have a of the present day martyr, and revenge will not be protracted in coming. This is no way to win the war against terror, or to bring peace to the Middle East.

Mr Yassin was killed when Israeli helicopters targeted him with missiles as he was returning from dawn prayers at a mahometan temple in the Gaza Strip. The missile strike killed him instantly, along with seven other Palestinians. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon personally authorized the attack, calling Mr Yassin ''the first and foremost leader of the Palestinian terrorist murderers'' Later, Israel warned that all Palestinian militant leaders were ''in its sights.''

Mr Yassin was individual of the founders and the spiritual leader of Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist collection that advocates the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with an Islamic single It has claimed responsibility for most numerous of the 112 suicide bombings that have killed more than 450 Israelis since the next to the first intifada began 3 1/2 years ago. Hamas is not just a terror organization, though; it is also a provider of badly destitutioned social services. Both dimensions have contributed to its popularity among the Palestinian tribe and made Mr. Yassin a hero.

Although a charismatic figure, Mr Yassin kept his distance from Hamas' military activities and denied having any connection to their terror attacks. He was arrested according to Israel in 1989 and sentenc to life imprisonment for attacks forward Israeli soldiers and Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. He was fre in 1997 in an exchange for brace Israeli secret service agents. He had escaped an Israeli assassination attempt last year.

While the killing of Mr Yassin is intended to lance the message that no enemy of Israel is safe, the immediate answer is likely to be an upsurge in violence. As word of the killing spread by means of the occupied territories, tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the ways in mourning and protest. Previous assassinations plant off waves of suicide bombings and other attacks. More are to be expected

Make no mistake; Mr Yassin was no moderate. In a posthumous literal sense to an Arab summit to be held nearest week, he called on them to support continuing violence against Israel as well as against the coalition forces in Iraq. further he was also reputed to be a voice for moderation within Hamas. Last summer for example, he urg the dispose to accept a ceasefire in exchange for a entire Israel withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The day after Mr Yassin's assassination, Hamas appointed a modern supreme leader and a strange head for the Gaza Strip. the two are hardliners, and they have already pledg to pace up terrorist attacks against Israel. Plainly, the killing has not intimidated the Palestinians. Prime Minister Sharon has another objective. When Israel unilaterally withdrew companys from Lebanon, militants claimed a victory. He wants to preserve the Palestinians from doing the same when he withdraws crowds and settlers from the Gaza Strip.

''Targeted killings,'' a euphemism for assassination, intimate no single They only reinforce the period of violence that dominates life in the Middle East. Neither side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is willing to talk excluding from a position of vigor Both see concessions and compromise as signs of weakness, opportunities to be exploited. The tally is kept in posterity and the list of victims lengthens daily.

There is a solution. The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations have perform the operations indicated ined the ''road map,'' a phased peace initiative that provides for brace states existing side by side. Unfortunately, the road map has been propose aside with the escalation of violence and the U has prov unwilling to get by heart deeply engaged in the peace proces That suits extremists forward both sides. It make secures an upward spiral of violence, ratchets up hatred and makes compromise more difficult. Mr Yassin's killing is undivided more misstep.

Japan's Cabinet spokesman, Mr yasuo Fukuda, in a eagerly worded statement on Tuesday, criticized the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan denounced the Israeli action that, he said, is a violation of international law and a serious disservice to international efforts for a peaceful reconciliation of the Mideast conflict. European Union foreign ministers also have reproached the Sharon guidance for the assassination. The international community must join puissance to prevent the inflamed violence from spreading further.