Posted on 03/22/2004 1:45:55 AM PST by kattracks
An attack by an Israeli helicopter gunship killed Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin today, blowing him out of his wheelchair as he left a Gaza City mosque after predawn prayers."The sheik is dead. The sheik is dead," sobbed gunmen and Hamas militants who gathered at the scene.
Israel - and the Bush administration - lists Hamas as a terrorist group. Yassin's Hamas was responsible for scores of suicide bombings and other deadly attacks on Israelis. Since the latest wave of violence began in September 2000, 474 people - the majority of them Israelis - have been killed in 112 Palestinian suicide bombings, most of them carried out by Hamas, including 21 at a Tel Aviv nightclub and 29 in a Netanya hotel, and a double suicide attack a week ago at an Israeli port that killed 10 people.
Witnesses said today's raid killed three others and injured at least 10, including the two sons of the 68-year-old quadriplegic and nearly blind cleric. Within hours, a Palestinian general strike in the West Bank was declared from mosque loudspeakers. Shops and schools spontaneously closed down earlier in Gaza, and tens of thousands protested in the streets throughout the two territories.
Masked fighters outside Shifa hospital shot into the air in rage while angry mourners burned tires, sending plumes of black smoke over Gaza City.
Israel quickly sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the attack, barring Palestinians from entering the Jewish state. Israeli security forces went on high alert.
In Washington, a senior State Department official appealed for calm, but the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, said it was declaring war on Israelis.
Israel had pledged it would step up operations to track and kill Islamic militants after a string of suicide bombings, including the one last week.
Yassin was viewed as an inspirational figure by his followers in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. His death could spur violent protests not only in the Palestinian areas but in the wider Arab and Islamic world.
To Israelis, Yassin was the soul behind a terror organization bent on the destruction of Israel. Israel said Yassin inspired Hamas bombers to kill hundreds of Israelis.
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said Yassin "had been marked for death for a long time. As long as there is terror we will continue to strike. Sheik Yassin and his deputies want the destruction of Israel."
Sheik Ahmed Yassin:
- Studied religion in the early 1950s at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Joined the activist Muslim Brotherhood.
- Founded Hamas in 1987 after the first Palestinian uprising, or intifadeh, initially calling it the Palestinian Wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
- In 1989 allegedly ordered the killing of Palestinians he believed collaborated with Israel Defense Forces. Was convicted of ordering the kidnapping and murder of two IDF soldiers and sentenced to life.
- Released nearly nine years later as part of a deal with Jordan following the failed assassination of militant Hamas leader Khaled Mashal by the Israeli Mossad. He’s swapped for two Mossad agents.
- Had tense relationship with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Repeatedly under house arrest during various states of peace process with Israel.
- Escaped with minor wounds last Sept. 6 when Israeli war plane dropped quarter-ton bomb on Gaza City building in an attack aimed at him.
Originally published on March 22, 2004
Uh, huh. And to Israel, thank you very much. That slug Yasim is gonna have a hard time handing out candy in hell, but at least it will be warm.
I like this line. It has a somewhat irreverent ring to it.
"I've fallen and I can't get up."
Like what haven't they been doing already? Raze Gaza City and send those bastards to Jordan and Egypt.
Oh, dear. [wringing hands] Now I'm afraid things are going to get violent.
The Israelis should declare a general strike, too, if you get my meaning. In another vein, why the Israelis continue to supply water and electricity to these ingrates is completely beyond me.
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