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Israel's Lieberman: Hamas should be sent to 'paradise'

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published November 19, 2006

JERUSALEM - Israel's deputy prime minister on Saturday said Israel should assassinate Hamas' leadership, ignore the moderate Palestinian president and walk away from international peace efforts, the latest in a string of hard-line positions voiced by the newest member of the Cabinet.

The comments by Avigdor Lieberman came as the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, continued talks on forming a unity government. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah hopes the coalition deal will enable him to revive peace efforts with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert brought Lieberman into the government last month to shore up a shaky coalition government weakened by the summer war in Lebanon. The Moldova-born Lieberman enjoys wide support among Israel's large community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Since joining the government as minister of strategic affairs, Lieberman's inflammatory statements, such as Saturday's call for Hamas' leaders to be sent to "paradise," have raised fears that peace efforts will be frozen.

Olmert has tried distancing himself from Lieberman, saying he remains committed to the U.S.-backed peace plan, which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"His comments are his own. They don't reflect Israeli policy," Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said Saturday.

Speaking to Israel Radio, Lieberman dismissed Abbas, elected president in 2005, as an ineffective leader who should be ignored, and said Israel must get tougher with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups, particularly their leaders.

"They ... have to disappear, to go to paradise, all of them, and there can't be any compromise," he said.

The leader of the Hamas bloc in the Palestinian Parliament, Mushir al-Masri, said any attack on the group's leaders would trigger immediate retaliation.

Also Saturday, in Gaza a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli army fire and a 16-year-old boy was shot dead by troops in a separate incident, Palestinian security officials said.

[Last modified November 19, 2006, 02:07:24]