Deadly Force

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The operation begins with careful primping: the five men, all commandos in the Israeli army, put on their makeup. To create a dark complexion, they smear a thick, oily foundation cream on face, hands and arms. One of the soldiers pastes on a fake mustache; another paints a jagged scar on his cheek. To complete their disguise -- they are posing as Arab charcoalmakers today -- the men, clad in T shirts, jeans and sneakers, smudge their faces with soot.

Setting out from a hiding place in the woods near the Palestinian town of Jenin, they drive through the West Bank hills in a banged-up taxi and are greeted with friendly waves by Palestinians who clearly do not suspect that the men are Israeli infiltrators. Soon the commandos reach their destination, a small house outside Jenin. Inside, they hope to find Munir Jaradat, 18, allegedly a member of an armed Palestinian group that calls itself the Red Eagles. Weapons drawn, the soldiers storm the house, but they find only two frightened women, a boy and a younger child. No Jaradat. "Never mind," snaps the group commander. "Next time." Three weeks later, another commando team catches up with Jaradat in the nearby village of Silat al Harithiyah. According to the army's report, he is shot dead after he pulls a pistol on the soldiers.

More and more, that is the pattern of confrontation these days in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Even as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were preparing to resume peace talks set for this week in Washington, their armed compatriots were shooting it out in the territories. The new pattern began to emerge eight months ago, when the Israeli army launched an all-out offensive to end what it describes as the "red intifadeh," resistance by an increasing number of Palestinians who have switched from stones to guns in their fight against the occupation. The army's campaign, which mainly employs undercover units -- "Arabized" is the term used by the media -- has produced a rash of Palestinian deaths under controversial circumstances. Palestinian leaders charge that the commando units are death squads. "We've seen this before, in Guatemala, Argentina, the Philippines," says Riad Malki, an activist associated with the outlawed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. "The idea is not to capture fugitives but to eliminate them."

Israeli and Palestinian human-rights groups charge that the force used is excessive. Three weeks ago, Education Minister Shulamit Aloni, whose leftist Meretz Party is part of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's governing coalition, said she was "opposed in principle to 18- or 19-year-old boys' passing judgment on Palestinians and then carrying out death sentences against them."

Security authorities are unmoved by such complaints. They see the campaign as a success, since it has reduced the level of Palestinian violence directed against Israelis and prompted the surrender of scores of wanted activists. Rabin, a former general, has no intention of stopping the undercover operations. "This is the way to go," he said recently. "We intend to continue."