Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has forbidden the practice until now, these sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli statements were confirmed by more than a half dozen former and currently serving U.S. foreign policy and intelligence officials in interviews with United Press International.

Tel Aviv has mainly limited its practice of targeted killings to the West Bank and Gaza because "no one wanted such (assassinations or targeted killings) 'preventive operations' on their territory," a former Israeli intelligence official said.

A former Israeli government official said Prime Minister Sharon, is "reversing that policy, even if it risks complications to Israel's bilateral relations."

A former Israeli military intelligence source agreed: "What Sharon wants is a much more extensive and tough approach to global terrorism, and this includes greater operational maneuverability."

Does this mean assassinations on the soil of allies?

"It does," he said

With the appointment of Meir Dagan, the new director of Israel's Mossad secret intelligence service, Sharon is preparing "a huge budget" increase for the spy agency as part of "a tougher stance in fighting global jihad (or holy war)," one Israeli official said.

Dagan, nicknamed "the gun," was Sharon's adviser on counter-terrorism during the government of Netanyahu in 1996, former Israeli government officials say. A former military man, Dagan has also undertaken extremely sensitive diplomatic missions for several of Israel's prime ministers, former Israeli government sources said.

Dagan has already removed Mossad officials whom he regards as "being too conservative or too cautious" and is building up "a constituency of senior people of the same mentality," one former long-time Israeli operative said.

Ali Hassan Salemeh, the mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, was killed in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1976 by a car bomb placed by an Israeli assassination team, former U.S. intelligence officials said. A 1974 attempt kill Salemah, severely embarrassed Mossad when the Israeli hit team mistakenly assassinated a Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer, Norway.

"Israel knew Salemeh (a CIA asset) was providing us with preventive intelligence on the Palestinians and his being killed pissed off a lot of people," said a former senior CIA official.

Israeli hit teams, which consist of units or squadrons of the Kidon, a sub-unit for Mossad's highly secret Metsada department, would stage the operations, former Israeli intelligence sources said. Kidon is a Hebrew word meaning "bayonet," one former Israeli intelligence source said

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?storyid=20030115-035849-6156r

The evidence for Israeli war crimes in the 1967 war:

Source: The book, Body of Secrets, page 202. NSA SIGINT intercepts from the USS Liberty and from US Air Force C-130 SIGINT aircraft and US Navy EC-121M SIGINT aircraft. The following was learned:

Israel conducted a first-strike attack on Egyptian forces in the Sinai at 0745, 5 June 1967.

Fourteen unarmed UN (Indian) peacekeeper/observers were killed in cold blood by a group of attacking Israeli tankers.

By June 8, Egyptian POWs had become nuisances for the Israelis. There was no place to house them, not enough Israelis to guard them, and few vehilces to transport them to POW camps.

At the El Arish mosque 90 Egyptian POWs with their hands tied behind their backs were machine guned. The Israelis then forced other Egyptian POWs and Bedouins to bury the died in mass graves.

On the morning of 8 June in the airport area of El Arish, Isreali journalist Gabi Bron saw 150 Egyptian POWs dig a pit and then Israeli army police shot them to death.

Israeli military historian Aryeh Yitzhaki stated Israeli troops killed 1,000 Egyptian POWs in cold blood. He also stated the whole Israeli army leadership knew about these war crimes and tried their best to cover them up.

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