Annan condemns 'targeted assassinations' by Israel

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Israel to stop "what have become known as 'targeted assassinations'" of Palestinian militants, saying Thursday the practice violates international law.

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In a statement, Annan's spokesman said the secretary-general was "deeply disturbed" by the Israeli government's decision to continue the practice that "contradicts the spirit, if not the letter" of the ceasefire negotiated by CIA Director George Tenent.

Annan urged both sides to reject violence, adhere to security agreements already reached and work toward implementing the recommendations of the Mitchell report.

Also on Thursday, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East said that U.S. attempts to get Israel and the Palestinian Authority to observe a "quick cooling-down" period had failed.

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Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said a third-party referee was now needed to take Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat "by the hand and move them forward."

"We now have to face the hard facts that the attempt to carry through a quick cooling-down over seven days has failed," said Larsen. "And I think also the situation illustrates that there is an acute need for a third-party referee.

"Arafat yesterday declared that the period successfully was over and that we are moving into the next period with political underpinnings, confidence-building measures, etc., while the Israelis are of the opinion that the seven-day period has not yet started. There is a complete discrepancy between the perceptions of reality here."

On a trip to the region last week, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell got the two sides to agree to complete seven straight days without violence -- to be followed by a six-week "cooling-off period" when the two sides would begin to implement confidence-building measures.

However, he did not get an agreement on when that period would begin, and the region has remained in crisis with the two sides blaming each other for not honoring the cease-fire.

On the West Bank, Palestinian hospital sources said Thursday that one Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded in a clash with Israeli troops near Ramallah.

The Israel Defense Force said that Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops near the settlement of Psagot. The IDF said one soldier was "lightly" wounded in the gunfire and Israeli soldiers could see Palestinians had been wounded.

The incident occurred as Sharon, on a trip to Europe, met with officials from Germany and Belgium, urging them to put more pressure on the Palestinians to observe a cease-fire.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder advised Sharon to show "more flexibility" on the issue of Jewish settlements.

Larsen said the reality is that without a third party to referee the Mideast situation, no progress will be made.

"The hard facts we are facing now is that we cannot proceed without some sort of referee mechanism here, and we cannot proceed with the cease-fire unless there are political underpinnings," said Larsen, "which means that confidence-building measures have to be put very quickly into motion.

"Now the parties are conducting a dance of mortal dangers, at the brink of the abyss, swinging back and forth, moving from crisis to crisis."

While both the Israelis and Palestinians have said they accept the recommendations of the Mitchell committee for restoring peace in the Middle East, Larsen said efforts to get the two sides to implement those recommendations aren't working.

"The starting point is that both parties have accepted the so-called Mitchell recommendations, which is a bridge back from the instability and the chaos that we have here now, back to the negotiating table," said Larsen.

"But this bridge, according to the architecture of Mitchell, [has] three underpinnings, three pillars -- a political pillar, a security pillar and an economic pillar. Now what is trying to be built is only a very shaking security pillar, and it's about to crumble."

The Mitchell committee, a five-man, international panel headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, investigated Israeli-Palestinian violence and issued a report with recommendations aimed at resuming Mideast peace talks.

Larsen called on both parties to agree to a "third-party mechanism" for moving the process forward.

"The differences between the parties are so deep that the only thing that can function here now is a third party which comes forward with proposals," he said, noting that polls show 80 percent of Palestinians want the intifada or uprising to continue.

"There is a need for a referee on the ground who can decide what are the relevant images of reality. When the Israelis are saying the seven days have not started and the Palestinians are saying the seven days have ended, then it's impossible to move forward. That's why we need a third party who can take the parties by the hand and move them forward."