***A settlement of the Palestinian question remains a precondition for a breakthrough in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Muslim world. This can only happen if Israel is effectively delegitimised as a law-abiding state, and punished --not indulged.***

EVIDENCE has now emerged that Israel's secret service Mossad assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhough of the Palestinian-Islamist group Hamas in Dubai on January 20. Closed-circuit television footage of the execution, available at www.youtube.com, leaves little room for doubt of Mossad's involvement.

According to the London Sunday Times, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approved the assassination plot no less. The criminality of al-Mabhough's killing stands compounded by the use of forged passports, including one diplomatic passport, of Israelbased dual-nationality British, Irish, French and German citizens.

Israel has recklessly used such illegal means to the point of jeopardising its relations with friendly countries. In the 1980s, the UK government shut down Mossad's local operations after it forged British passports. Mossad habitually practises such means in many countries, barring US.

The British foreign secretary's "outrage” at al-Mabhough's murder was mild, although it violates international law. If an Iranian agency had murdered an Iranian resistance member, an emergency UN Security Council meeting would have been convened, and stiff sanctions imposed on Iran.

Israel has long used assassination as state policy, and killed numerous opponents — most famously, Hezbollah's Abbas al-Masawi in the early 1990s and Hamas's wheelchair-bound, nearly-blind, quadriplegic Sheikh Yassin in 2004.

It's legitimate for Mossad to gather intelligence, but no lawful state can commit coldblooded murder.

Not only are non-judicial executions morally repugnant. They will eventually jeopardise the safety ofWestern and Israeli citizens.

Assassinations of national liberation leaders at best cause a temporary setback Soon, new leaders or more militant organisations emerge.

So far, Hamas has confined its activities to Israeli-Palestinian soil. If Mossad continues to target its leaders on foreign soil, then Hamas could also reciprocate, leading to more violence and mayhem.

Mossad, often lionised by the media as superefficient and flawlessly run, has often bungled. In 1973, it killed a Moroccan waiter in Norway, mistaking him for a Palestinian guerilla. In 1997, it tried to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan by spraying nerve toxin into his ear, but failed; its agents had to take shelter in Israel's embassy.

Mossad has had some big successes, as in kidnapping nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu from Rome (1986) and killing a Canadian ballistics expert in Brussels (1990). The successes are often achieved by repulsive means. Al-Mabhough was attacked with a stungun, tortured and smothered, besides being shot.

His assassination follows Israel's ruthless policy of consolidating its occupation, expanding illegal settlements, and tightening its economic hold over Palestinians — in repeated defiance of Security Council resolutions and global opinion.

Israel's daily infliction of pain and humiliation on the Palestinians, its policy of pauperising them and controlling their physical movement makes classical colonialism look like a picnic. No Palestinian may go to his field, cross a village, or earn a living unless the Israeli state permits.

Israel has turned Gaza into an open-air prison. People's movement in the West Bank is severely regulated through 700-900 check-

points, barriers and closures (state-imposed bandhs) — as many as 100 ayear.

The 20-kilometre drive between Jerusalem and Ramallah, the capital of non-sovereign Palestine, takes Israelis 20 minutes. A Palestinian could take between two hours and forever. Scores of Palestinian women, stuck at barriers and denied ambulances, are forced to give birth without medical attention.

Israel imposed the unjust 1992 Oslo accords on the compromised Yasser Arafat leadership, but reneged on its part of the deal. Arafat and his protege Mahmoud Abbas — now Palestine Authority president — were systematically weakened. Mr. Abbas's writ doesn't extend to Gaza, leave alone East Jerusalem, Palestine's historic capital.

The PLO recognised Israel and agreed to keep only 22 percent of Palestine's original area. But Israel thieved yet more land and water from Palestine.

Successive US governments have coddled Israel, protected it from sanctions, and pumped huge economic and military aid — equivalent to $1,000 for each citizen. President Bush was particularly indulgent towards Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Bush all but legitimised illegal settlements. He even denied the Palestinian refugees, uprooted by the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe), their right of return — a fundamental international right.

President Obama raised hope by reiterating his support for talks for an independent Palestine in his Cairo University address last June. He hasn't reined in Israel's rogue-like regime, but dropped US insistence on freezing settlements. Other Western powers, like France, periodically make the right noises, but don't act effectively.

Israel is trying hard to gain diplomatic space by courting small, weak states in Africa and Asia. It has also built a strong military-supply and intelligence-sharing relationship with India.

India, which had long advocated an independent Palestine, now cravenly sides with Israel. India didn't even unequivocally condemn the 2008 invasion of Gaza, for which Israel stands indicted by the UN's Goldstone Report.

Israel cynically exploits India's fear of terrorism by offering anti-terrorism expertise and equipment. India is now Israel's biggest weapons customer and is buying sophisticated antimissile systems. Israel often jumps India's armaments bidding process by setting up joint ventures with Indian public-sector arms producers.

This unhealthy relationship is unbecoming of an emerging power with a history of non-alignment.

Israel's roguish conduct is one of the greatest barriers to peace in West Asia. The fear of Israeli power is used by countries like Iran to escalate uranium enrichment and crack down upon domestic dissidents.

Hundreds of Iranian dissidents have been rounded up for protesting against the recent allegedly rigged presidential elections and for sympathising with domestic reformists. Some are falsely charged with spying, which carries the death sentence. One such Iranian is social scientist KianTajbakhsh.

The more Israel acts like a rogue, the more it will encourage the persecution of people like Mr. Tajbakhsh, and inflame anti-West sentiment in the Arab world, fuelling turmoil, unrest and violence.

A settlement of the Palestinian question remains a precondition for a breakthrough in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Muslim world. This can only happen if Israel is effectively delegitimised as a law-abiding state, and punished — not indulged.

Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist

E-mail: bidwai@bol.net. in