Military

DATE=3/23/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)

NUMBER=2-314393

BYLINE=LARRY JAMES

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Israeli leaders are signaling a stepped up campaign to get rid of Palestinian militant leaders while at the same time bracing for more violence following the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday. V-O-A's Larry James reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Israeli Army Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said Israel would continue to target militant leaders when opportunities present themselves.

He also suggested that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah would eventually be assassinated by Israel.

///YA'ALON ACT IN HEBREW - FADE UNDER ///

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, the military chief said the response of the two men to Monday's assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin showed that "they understand that their turn is drawing near."

General Ya'alon defended the assassination as a positive step toward stability. He said that, in the short term, there would likely be an increase in violence, but that in the long run the assassination is likely to calm the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli Internal Security Minister Tsahi Hanegbi said that anyone involved in terrorist activities is, as he put it, in our sights.

Israeli security officials met for five hours on Monday and reports say they decided to step up targeted attacks and go after the entire Hamas leadership without waiting for another attack.

Palestinian outrage at Sheikh Yassin's assassination has been intense. Hamas has vowed to strike back at Israeli targets with unprecedented violence. Senior Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz Rantizi, who narrowly escaped an Israeli assassination attempt last year, said an open war against Israel has now begun. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad have also vowed revenge for the Yassin assassination.

The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the killing.

/// ARAFAT ACT IN ARABIC ///

He called on the United Nations to condemn what he called this criminal act.

Some 200-thousand Palestinian mourners filled the streets of Gaza City at the funeral of Sheikh Yassin on Monday chanting Sharon, start preparing your body bags.

Israeli security forces are in a state of high alert. In addition to sealing off the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli troops have sent reinforcements to the border with Lebanon to prepare for any increase in activity by the Hezbollah guerrillas based there.

Israeli forces moved into the northern Gaza Strip late Monday near the town of Beit Hanoun after Palestinian militants fired several homemade rockets into Israel's Negev area late Monday. The rockets caused no injuries or damage. (Signed)

NEB/LDJ/MAR/RH