Robert Fisk
Killing Of Sheikh Yassin
Wed Mar 24 03:32:47 2004
63.228.146.155

Sheikh Yassin: Reviled as Terrorist, Admired as Hero

VOA 23/03/2004 12:16

The founder and spiritual leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was killed Monday morning in an Israeli airstrike near his home in Gaza.

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=8381

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Killing Of Sheikh Yassin

Robert Fisk - Tuesday March 23, 2004

IT DOESN'T take an awful lot of courage to murder a paraplegic in a
wheelchair. But it takes only a few moments to absorb the implications
of the assassination of Sheikh Yassin. Yes, he endorsed suicide bombings
- including the murder of Israeli children. Yes, if you live by the
sword, you die by the sword, in a wheelchair or not. But something went
wrong with the narrative of the news story yesterday - and something
infinitely more dangerous, another sinister precedent - was set for our
brave new world.

Take the old man himself. From the start, the Israeli line was simple.
Sheikh Yassin was the "head of the snake" - to use the words of the
Israeli ambassador to London - the head of Hamas, "one of the world's
most dangerous terrorist organisations". But then came obfuscation from
the world's media. Yassin, the BBC World Service Television told us at
lunchtime, was originally freed by the Israelis in a "prisoner
exchange". It sounded like one of those familiar swaps - a Palestinian
released in exchange for captured Israeli soldiers. And then, later in
the day, the BBC told us that he had been freed "following a deal
brokered by King Hussain (of Jordan)". Which was all very strange. He
was a prisoner of the Israelis. This "head of the snake" was in an
Israeli prison. And then, bingo, this supposed monster was let go
because of a "deal". Sheikh Yassin was set free by no less than that
law-and-order right- wing Likudist Benjamin Netanyahu when he was Prime
Minister of Israel. King Hussain wasn't a "broker" between two sides.
Two Israeli Mossad secret agents had tried to murder a Hamas official in
Amman, the capital of an Arab nation which had a full peace agreement
with Israel. They had injected the Hamas man with poison and the late
King Hussain called the US President in fury and threatened to put the
captured Mossad men on trial if he wasn't given the antidote to the
poison and if Yassin wasn't released.

Netanyahu immediately gave in. Yassin was freed and the Mossad lads went
safely home to Israel. So the "head of the snake" was let loose by
Israel itself, courtesy of the Israeli Prime Minister - a chapter in the
narrative of history which was conveniently forgotten yesterday. Which
is all very odd. For if the elderly cleric really was worthy of state
murder, why did Mr Netanyahu let him go in the first place? It was not a
question that anyone wanted to ask yesterday.

But there was something infinitely more dangerous in all this. Yet
another Arab - another leader, however vengeful and ruthless - had been
assassinated. The Americans want to kill Osama Bin Laden. They want to
kill Mullah Omar. They killed Saddam's two sons. The Israelis repeatedly
threaten to murder Yasser Arafat. It's getting to be a habit.

No one has begun to work out the implications of all this. For years,
there has been an unwritten rule in the cruel war of government-versus-
guerrilla. You can kill the men on the street, the bomb makers and
gunmen. But the leadership on both sides - government ministers,
spiritual leaders - were allowed to survive.

Now all is changed utterly. Anyone who advocates violence is now on a
death list. So who can be surprised if the rules are broken by the other
side?

With all their own security, Bush and Blair may be safe, but what about
their ambassadors and fellow ministers? Leaders are fair game. We will
not say this. If, or when, our own political leaders are gunned down or
blown up, we shall vilify the killers and argue a new stage in
"terrorism" has been reached. We shall forget that we are now
encouraging this all- out assassination spree.


Last updated 23/03/2004
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Searched news for Killing Of Sheikh Yassin.

Vatican condemns killing of Sheikh Yassin (17:30 PST)
Hi Pakistan, Pakistan - Mar 22, 2004
VATICAN CITY: The Vatican on Monday condemned the killing of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as an act of violence that cannot be justified in any state of ...
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en58286&F_catID=&f_type=source

UN holds consultations following assassination of Sheikh Yassin
Electronic Intifada, IL - 10 hours ago
... said in an explanation of the vote before the vote that the Council of the European Union had condemned the extrajudicial killing of Sheikh Yassin and seven ...
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2536.shtml

Sheikh Yassin’s Assassination Crosses All Red Lines

Linda S. Heard

Arab News

CAIRO, 23 March 2004 — Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual head of the Palestinian group Hamas, has fallen victim to “justice” Israeli-style. Early yesterday morning, as the white-haired, wheelchair-bound leader exited his local mosque after prayers, Israel’s Apache helicopter gun-ships lay in waiting on the direct orders, and under the personal supervision, of Ariel Sharon.

This high-profile extra-judicial assassination — one in the long line of many — has thrust the region into turmoil and far from weakening the Palestinians and their supporters it has united them. It has also gagged the moderates and fuelled the extremists.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has called for a three-day mourning period, and has accused the Israelis of crossing “all red lines.” Ahmed Qurei, the authority’s prime minister, has described Yassin’s murder as “one of the biggest crimes that the Israeli government has committed.”

Palestinian resistance leaders have declared an open war against the occupation and have vowed to target Sharon and others in his government. “War is now open with Israel,” Abdul Aziz Al-Rantissi told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya network. Rantissi himself escaped assassination when in June last year his vehicle came under a missile attack.

Fatah leader Hussein Al-Sheikh said the response would be “shuddering with earthquake-like effect.” A leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Abu Qusayee, warned that while “thousands of Israelis would now be targets, the head of our hit list is Sharon himself and his henchmen.”

From Beirut to Cairo, anti-Israel demonstrations have erupted in response to Yassin’s murder, while the leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood told the Al-Jazeera network, “There can be no life for the Americans and Zionists in the region.” Some7 , 000Egyptian students held an impromptu demonstration at Al-Azhar upon news of Yassin’s killing.

Condemnations have poured in from governments around the world including Britain. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, while conceding Israel has a right to defend itself, said there was no excuse for going outside international law. “We, therefore, condemn it. It’s unacceptable, it’s unjustified, and it’s very unlikely to achieve its objective,” he said.

The assassination is an embarrassment to the Egyptian government, which, along with Jordan, had been pulling out the stops to mediate between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority over cease-fires and peace proposals.

King Abdallah of Jordan, who recently met with Sharon at his private ranch for discussions on the future of Gaza, is likely to be even more embarrassed. His prime minister, Faisal Al-Fayez, read out this statement on state television: “We, in the government, condemn strongly this heinous crime and affirm this act will escalate the cycle of violence and instability in the region and will lead to more bloodshed.”

Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese president, termed the murder “a savage crime committed by Israel”, adding, “Israel is mistaken if it thinks by killing the resistance fighters, it can kill the Palestinian cause which is based on right and justice.”

Mohammed Al-Saqer, the parliamentary head of Kuwait’s Foreign Affairs Committee, asked the United States to clearly condemn the Israeli actions before other Palestinian leaders too became victims of Israeli aggression.

Thus far, a US State Department spokesman has only urged both sides to show restraint.

Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir defended the murder saying that Israel held Sheikh Yassin responsible for scores of suicide attacks against Israelis. “He is the one who is sending children and women to explode themselves,” he said. Arab political analysts believe that, on the contrary, Sheikh Yassin was a moderating influence on the military wing of Hamas. But will the demise of Sheikh Yassin make Israelis and their backers any safer? Not according to Hamas, which has now suggested that the US could become a target for revenge attacks.

In a statement faxed to the Associated Press, Hamas said: “The Zionists did not carry out their operation without getting the consent of the terrorist American administration and it must take responsibility for this crime.”

If this is a serious threat, then it represents a change in strategy on the part of Hamas, which has always cited Israel as its sworn enemy, as opposed to Israel’s closest ally and financial backer the United States. This would be a blow to America’s “war on terror” as reflected by descending world markets.

The assassination could also lead to fundamentalist groups worldwide joining with Hamas and could shake the foundations of the Palestinian Authority, already struggling to maintain order with only20 ,000 policemen and limited security resources. It could also prove an ideological turning point for Palestinians who have so far hoped that a just peace, forged under the rule of international law, would eventually prevail.

Those who wondered about Sharon’s unilateral decision to withdraw from Gaza and to build an apartheid wall separating the Palestinian residents of the West Bank from Israel could now have their answer.

It appears that Sharon, George W. Bush’s ‘Man of Peace’ is determined to thrust the West Bank and Gaza into chaos, in an attempt to justify an even more hard line and brutal response from Israel when Palestinian groups seek revenge. Jordan’s fears that panicked ordinary Palestinians might cross its borders in large numbers seeking refuge could well materialize. As Israelis brace themselves for what might follow, their streets deserted and their stores shuttered, hooded Palestinian militants are appearing on television citing Israel’s latest assassination as a precedent for a new international law; one in which any leader is a valid target.

Sheikh Yassin has been turned into a martyr, his ideological legacy assured in a way it could never have been had he been allowed to pass away naturally in his own bed. Perhaps Sharon had hoped to splinter Hamas into smaller more manageable groups with the killing of its spiritual leader, but the reverse is likely to be the case.

Hamas may, indeed, gain more support but there are no real winners here as both sides of the conflict can only wait to count their dead in an atmosphere of mounting violence, fear and dread.

— Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Mideast affairs and can be contacted at morgandewales@yahoo.co.uk

• Article on Yassin — Tom Mysiewicz, Wed Mar 24 20:16
• Yassin Killing — Tom Mysiewicz, Wed Mar 24 20:04
• Israel and hamaas — cepjr61, Wed Mar 24 13:45
• Al-Qaeda ‘Statement’ Threatens U.S. Over Yassin — IslamOnline.net, Wed Mar 24 03:44