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Monday, March 22, 2004
Israel kills Hamas leader
Mon 22 March, 2004 07:06
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli helicopters have killed the spiritual leader of the Hamas Islamic militant group, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as he left a mosque.
It was Israel's highest profile assassination of more than three years of conflict.
At least seven other people died in the Monday pre-dawn Gaza City missile strike on the grey-bearded, wheelchair-bound Palestinian cleric who founded a group that has sworn to destroy the Jewish state and killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians marched in Gaza shouting deafening calls of revenge. Black smoke coiled into the sky from burning tyres set ablaze in protest. Mosques in the West Bank and Gaza called a general strike.
The Palestinian Authority, in off-and-on negotiations with Israel for a decade, described Yassin's killing as a "crazy and very dangerous act" that opened the door to chaos. Previous assassinations have triggered waves of suicide attacks.
An Israeli cabinet minister compared Yassin, 67, to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and said the killing was meant to "create quiet". As a precaution, the Israeli army sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip to stop any Palestinians entering Israel.
All that remained at the scene near a Gaza City mosque was Yassin's bloodied wheelchair.
"They are the killers of prophets and today they killed an Islamic symbol," said Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, now the most prominent face of Hamas. "It's a war on Islam...What happened was beyond the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, they wanted to assassinate the Palestinian cause."
HELICOPTER STRIKE
One witness near the mosque told Reuters what happened moments after the first missile struck.
"I looked to see where Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was," he said. "He was lying on the ground and his wheelchair was destroyed. People there darted left and right. Then another two missiles landed."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a tough former general, commanded and oversaw the strike on Yassin from his ranch in the Negev Desert, Israeli security sources said.
Palestinians, many in tears, poured into Gaza City streets. Gunmen fired into the air and militants threw dozens of pipe-bombs to express their outrage.
"Sheikh Ahmed Yassin rest in peace. They will never enjoy rest. We will send death to every house, every city, every street in Israel," militants shouted over loudspeakers.
The Israeli army confirmed that it killed Yassin in a helicopter attack, similar to scores of others during the violence that erupted after peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians foundered in 2000.
"Our mourning will never end until hundreds of Israelis are killed, until Sharon is dead," said Ali Taha, a 34-year-old mechanic. "We are all Yassin. We are all willing martyrs."
Both sides have been trying to bloody the other as much as possible ahead of a possible pullout of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip proposed by Sharon.
Israel stepped up strikes after a suicide bombing killed 10 people at the port of Ashdod last week. The bombers got through defences around Gaza that were previously thought impenetrable.
BIN LADEN COMPARISON
Hardline Israeli cabinet minister Uzi Landau compared Yassin to bin Laden and said "there is no doubt that the goal is to create quiet and there is no other way to bring about calm other than to fight terror."
But there was dissent in Sharon's coalition cabinet and centrist ministers voted against killing Yassin.
"I think the damage outweighs the benefit: Killing him will not eliminate Hamas," said Interior Minister Avraham Poraz.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie accused Israel of trying to provoke anarchy and called the killing a "crazy and very dangerous act. It opens the door wide to chaos."
A senior official of the U.S. State Department urged all sides to remain calm. The United States has been trying with little success to revive a dormant "road map" for peace in the Middle East.
"War, war, war on the sons of Zion. An eye for an eye. There will be a response within hours, God willing," said a statement from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction behind many suicide attacks.
Yassin's body was evacuated to Gaza City's Shifa hospital. The bodies of seven other people, at least two of them Yassin's bodyguards, were also at the morgue.
Yassin had been confined to a wheelchair since a childhood accident that paralysed him. He was also partially blind.
He survived an Israeli missile strike last September.
Yassin was sentenced by Israel in 1989 to a life term for founding Hamas and inciting Palestinians to attack Israelis.
But Israel released him in 1997 as a goodwill gesture to Jordan's King Hussein after a failed Israeli attempt to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan.
"All of Palestine will turn into a volcano that will burn up the enemies," Sheikh Ismael Hamiyah told reporters outside the morgue after viewing Yassin's body. "Our feelings...are full of anger and desire for revenge".
Mon 22 March, 2004 07:06
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli helicopters have killed the spiritual leader of the Hamas Islamic militant group, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as he left a mosque.
It was Israel's highest profile assassination of more than three years of conflict.
At least seven other people died in the Monday pre-dawn Gaza City missile strike on the grey-bearded, wheelchair-bound Palestinian cleric who founded a group that has sworn to destroy the Jewish state and killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians marched in Gaza shouting deafening calls of revenge. Black smoke coiled into the sky from burning tyres set ablaze in protest. Mosques in the West Bank and Gaza called a general strike.
The Palestinian Authority, in off-and-on negotiations with Israel for a decade, described Yassin's killing as a "crazy and very dangerous act" that opened the door to chaos. Previous assassinations have triggered waves of suicide attacks.
An Israeli cabinet minister compared Yassin, 67, to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and said the killing was meant to "create quiet". As a precaution, the Israeli army sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip to stop any Palestinians entering Israel.
All that remained at the scene near a Gaza City mosque was Yassin's bloodied wheelchair.
"They are the killers of prophets and today they killed an Islamic symbol," said Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, now the most prominent face of Hamas. "It's a war on Islam...What happened was beyond the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, they wanted to assassinate the Palestinian cause."
HELICOPTER STRIKE
One witness near the mosque told Reuters what happened moments after the first missile struck.
"I looked to see where Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was," he said. "He was lying on the ground and his wheelchair was destroyed. People there darted left and right. Then another two missiles landed."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a tough former general, commanded and oversaw the strike on Yassin from his ranch in the Negev Desert, Israeli security sources said.
Palestinians, many in tears, poured into Gaza City streets. Gunmen fired into the air and militants threw dozens of pipe-bombs to express their outrage.
"Sheikh Ahmed Yassin rest in peace. They will never enjoy rest. We will send death to every house, every city, every street in Israel," militants shouted over loudspeakers.
The Israeli army confirmed that it killed Yassin in a helicopter attack, similar to scores of others during the violence that erupted after peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians foundered in 2000.
"Our mourning will never end until hundreds of Israelis are killed, until Sharon is dead," said Ali Taha, a 34-year-old mechanic. "We are all Yassin. We are all willing martyrs."
Both sides have been trying to bloody the other as much as possible ahead of a possible pullout of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip proposed by Sharon.
Israel stepped up strikes after a suicide bombing killed 10 people at the port of Ashdod last week. The bombers got through defences around Gaza that were previously thought impenetrable.
BIN LADEN COMPARISON
Hardline Israeli cabinet minister Uzi Landau compared Yassin to bin Laden and said "there is no doubt that the goal is to create quiet and there is no other way to bring about calm other than to fight terror."
But there was dissent in Sharon's coalition cabinet and centrist ministers voted against killing Yassin.
"I think the damage outweighs the benefit: Killing him will not eliminate Hamas," said Interior Minister Avraham Poraz.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie accused Israel of trying to provoke anarchy and called the killing a "crazy and very dangerous act. It opens the door wide to chaos."
A senior official of the U.S. State Department urged all sides to remain calm. The United States has been trying with little success to revive a dormant "road map" for peace in the Middle East.
"War, war, war on the sons of Zion. An eye for an eye. There will be a response within hours, God willing," said a statement from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction behind many suicide attacks.
Yassin's body was evacuated to Gaza City's Shifa hospital. The bodies of seven other people, at least two of them Yassin's bodyguards, were also at the morgue.
Yassin had been confined to a wheelchair since a childhood accident that paralysed him. He was also partially blind.
He survived an Israeli missile strike last September.
Yassin was sentenced by Israel in 1989 to a life term for founding Hamas and inciting Palestinians to attack Israelis.
But Israel released him in 1997 as a goodwill gesture to Jordan's King Hussein after a failed Israeli attempt to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan.
"All of Palestine will turn into a volcano that will burn up the enemies," Sheikh Ismael Hamiyah told reporters outside the morgue after viewing Yassin's body. "Our feelings...are full of anger and desire for revenge".
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