Barak accused of being war criminal

Ehud Barak and all members of the Israeli government must be prosecuted as war criminals, the Palestinian information minister has said.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a leading peace negotiator, said the Israeli Prime Minister and his ministers had approved the assassinations of a number of Palestinians.

Palestinians say more than a dozen people have been assassinated by Israeli commandos in the past two months. Israel has said it is targeting Palestinians involved in attacks on Israelis and says the practice is effective and just.

The most prominent victim was Dr Thabet Thabet, a dentist and leading activist in Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction. He was gunned down outside his West Bank home December 31.

Mr Abed Rabbo's remarks were a sign of the deepening crisis between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships.

More than 360 people, the vast majority Palestinians, have been killed in more than three months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.