Israelis Ask if Price of Gaza Attack Too High
Debate raged in Israel on Wednesday over the wisdom of killing one of its most bitter enemies at the cost of 14 Palestinian lives and international condemnation of the devastating Gaza air raid. A day after the killing of Salah Shehada, commander of the military wing of the Islamic group Hamas, it emerged that the F-16 warplane that attacked his house used a powerful one-ton precision ``smart bomb'' to ensure he could not survive.

…Haim Ramon, a member of Peres's Labor Party and chairman of parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, said the buck stopped with the government.

``Ultimately it was the military's mistake, but it does not send an F-16 to a populated area without political authorization,'' Ramon told Israel Radio.

Military affairs correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai told Israel Radio the destructive power of the bomb was doubled by its detonation in a crowded cluster of buildings.

Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid of the left-wing Meretz party said that when he served in previous governments, Israeli leaders had vetoed similar operations because civilian casualties were likely.

``There are things that a country simply cannot do unless it wants to risk committing state-sponsored terrorism,'' Sarid wrote in an opinion piece in Israel's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.

Nine Palestinian children, including a two-month-old baby, were among the 14 others killed in the attack.

At least 1,467 Palestinians and 559 Israelis have been killed in the uprising that began in September 2000.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast.html