ISRAELI RAID KILLS HAMAS ACTIVISTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 015987

DEPT FOR NEA, NEA/IAI, SMEC AND S/CT
LONDON FOR SUTPHIN; PARIS FOR LIEF
NSC FOR RIEDEL/MALLEY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/09
TAGS: PTER PGOV KPAL IS
SUBJECT: ISRAELI RAID KILLS HAMAS ACTIVISTS

CLASSIFIED BY POL/C JOHN SCOTT. REASON 1.5(B) AND (D).



1. (C) THE GOI'S BUREAU FOR COUNTERTERRORISM CONFIRMED
ON DECEMBER 14 THAT AN IDF SPECIAL FORCES UNIT KILLED
EIAD BATAT AND NADER MASALMAH IN A FIREFIGHT THE EVENING
OF DECEMBER 13. THE CLASH OCCURRED IN THE VILLAGE OF
BEIT AWWA, IN AREA B, APPROXIMATELY 10 KMS WEST OF
HEBRON, NEAR THE GREEN LINE. ACCORDING TO MEDIA
REPORTS, BATAT AND MASALMAH OPENED FIRE ON THE IDF UNIT
AS IT APPROACHED THE HOUSE THEY WERE IN. THE SPECIAL
FORCES UNIT RETURNED FIRE, KILLING BATAT AS HE TRIED TO
ENTER A VEHICLE TO FLEE AND MASALMAH, AS HE FIRED ON THE
ISRAELIS FROM THE ROOF OF THE HOUSE. THE EIGHT OTHERS
IN THE HOUSE AT THE TIME -- INCLUDING A WOMAN AND
CHILDREN -- WERE UNHARMED. BATAT REPORTEDLY WAS
CARRYING A HANDGUN AND EXPLOSIVES. GOI SOURCES TOLD THE
MEDIA THAT BASED ON "EVIDENCE" AT THE SCENE AND
"INTELLIGENCE" INFORMATION, IT APPEARED THAT BATAT AND
MASALMAH WERE PREPARING TO CARRY OUT A TERRORIST ATTACK.
THREE INDIVIDUALS WERE ARRESTED IN THE RAID, INCLUDING
RELATIVES OF MASALMAH.


2. (C) ACCORDING TO LTCOL UDI LEVI OF THE
COUNTERTERRORISM BUREAU, THE IDF UNIT HAD SPECIFIC
INFORMATION ABOUT BATAT'S AND MASALMAH'S WHEREABOUTS.
LEVI DESCRIBED BATAT AS A "SENIOR" FIGURE IN THE HAMAS
MILITARY WING WHO HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN A FIREFIGHT IN
THE OTNIEL SETTLEMENT SW OF HEBRON LAST JANUARY, IN
WHICH ONE BORDER POLICE OFFICER WAS KILLED AND ONE IDF
SOLDIER WOUNDED. LEVI SAID BATAT HAD BEEN OPERATING IN
THE SOUTHERN WEST BANK FOR SOME TIME. HE DESCRIBED THE
DECEMBER 13 RAID AS THE GOI'S MOST SUCCESSFUL AGAINST
HAMAS SINCE THE SEPTEMBER 1998 ATTACK -- ALSO NEAR
HEBRON -- WHICH KILLED THE ABWADALLAH BROTHERS.


3. (U) IN RESPONSE TO THE RAID, HAMAS LEADERS PUBLICLY
VOWED TO CONTINUE ATTACKING ISRAELIS AND WARNED THAT
ISRAEL BORE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF
THE ATTACK. PA LEGISLATOR HANAN ASHRAWI CONDEMNED THE
RAID, TELLING THE MEDIA THAT BATAT AND MASALMAH HAD BEEN
KILLED IN COLD BLOOD, AS PART OF THE GOI'S POLICY OF
"DELIBERATELY TARGETING, THEN ASSASSINATING" WANTED
INDIVIDUALS THEY COULD NOT OTHERWISE BRING TO JUSTICE.


4. (C) COMMENT: LEVI WOULD NOT CONFIRM (BUT DID NOT
DENY) THAT THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY WAS INVOLVED IN
PROVIDING SPECIFIC INFORMATION ABOUT BATAT'S AND
MASALMAH'S WHEREABOUTS, SINCE BEIT AWWA LIES IN THE AREA
UNDER JOINT GOI-PA CONTROL. ALTHOUGH BATAT HAS LONG
BEEN SOUGHT BY THE GOI, MASALMAH IS A NEWCOMER WHOSE
NAME HAS NOT APPEARED PREVIOUSLY ON ANY GOI LIST OF
KNOWN TERRORISTS. HE SIMPLY MAY HAVE BEEN IN THE WRONG
PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME.


WALKER