September 6, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved. Israeli targeted killings lead to revenge Òhit-listÓ LONDON, September 6, Graphic News: More than 30 Palestinian activists have been killed in targeted Israeli attacks since the intifada -- or uprising -- began 11 months ago. Most were militants suspected of planning attacks on Israelis, but bystanders, including women and children, have also been killed. The killing of Palestinian military leaders from groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have been carried out by people associated with IsraelÕs military intelligence service, Shin Bet. The security service is the domestic arm of IsraelÕs feared Mossad spy agency. Known by the euphemisms: Òtargeted killings, liquidations, surgical strikesÓ or Òinterception operations,Ó the victims of these extrajudicial killings have been shot by snipers and undercover soldiers, hit by rockets fired from helicopter gunships and blown up by booby traps. The killings have created an atmosphere of paranoia in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although most of the Shin Bet intelligence comes from monitoring cell phones and other channels of communication, Palestinian leaders are left searching for informers and collaborators. In 1996, Israel completed a $4 million network of antennas in hilltop Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank that enables agents to listen in on every cellular-phone call Palestinians make. At the Jerusalem headquarters of Shin BetÕs listening division, Unit 8200, computers scan the calls for key words that signal conversations worth listening to. Even with no-one on the line, a cell phone emits a signal every few seconds, so Israel can trace the owner constantly. Assassinations are carried out with the aid of unmanned drones that fly high and send back detailed surveillance photos. Shin BetÕs collaborator network is massive. Insiders say that Unit 504 -- which runs operations in the West Bank -- has about 10 agents handling informers in each Palestinian town. Each collaborator is paid around US$50 per meeting. The collaborators average three years before they are discovered by their compatriots, and are either killed or they flee to Israel. Since the current intifada began, some 20 collaborators have been lynched and 14 sentenced to death by ArafatÕs State Security Court; 200 others remain under arrest, awaiting trial. The authorative JaneÕs Foreign Report reveals that Shin Bet is stepping up its collaborator and assassination operations. It has received IsraelÕs latest hit-list of 15 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, varying from bomb makers to military leaders. In retaliation for the recent Israeli assassination of the veteran PFLP General Secretary Mustafa Zibri -- also known as Abu Ali Mustafa -- the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has ordered his commanders to draw up a hit list of senior Israelis. At the top of the list are Brigadier General Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli chief of staff; his deputy, Brigadier General Moshe Yaalon, and the head of Shin Bet, Avraham Dichter. /ENDS Sources: JaneÕs Foreign Report, Al-Bawaba, Al-Quds