I didn't know Saruman was the head of Hamas.
Posted on 09/24/2003 10:08:33 AM PDT by sonsofliberty2000
Hamas Founder Says Bush Has Declared War on Islam
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Islamic militant group Hamas, emerged from hiding on Wednesday and denounced President Bush's speech to the United Nations as a declaration of war on Islam.
"Today Bush declares war on Islam under the pretext of terrorism and ideologies that feed terrorism. Bush views Islam as terrorism," the wheelchair-bound cleric, 64, told reporters at a mosque in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
Yassin has been in hiding because of Israeli missile strikes against Hamas leaders after a wave of suicide bombings.
Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, and has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide attacks.
"Bush must understand that religious people do not fear threats. Islam is stronger than Bush's regime, stronger than Bush and stronger than his state and Islam will win."
He said Bush had resorted to war after failing to conduct a dialogue with Muslims. "But he will be defeated, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Palestine and in all the Muslim land," he said.
Bush said in his U.N. address Tuesday that the Palestinian cause was being "betrayed by leaders who cling to power by feeding old hatreds."
"We will not surrender, we will not raise white flags and we will continue to fight until we achieve either victory or martyrdom," said Yassin, who was slightly wounded in one strike.
Yassin said Hamas opposed any truce with Israel, although Palestinian President Yasser Arafat wants a cease-fire. "Talking truces is completely rejected by our side now," he said.
Yassin also said Hamas would not take part in any Palestinian government. "We do not share in governments under (Israeli) occupation," he said.
Yassin said Hamas was in contact with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah over a possible prisoner swap deal with Israel.
A Palestinian newspaper said Tuesday Israel could free 215 Palestinian security detainees next week as part of a prisoner-swap deal with Hizbollah.
"From our side we work and are in contact with Hizbollah to release as many Palestinian prisoners as possible from the jails of the Israeli enemy," Yassin said.
I didn't know Saruman was the head of Hamas.
If only....
Hamas Leader Says Group Won't Disarm
By NAJIB ABU JOBAIN, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Emerging for a news conference for the first time since Israel tried to kill him, the founder of the militant group Hamas said Wednesday his group will not disarm or accept a truce with Israel.
Sheik Ahmed Yassin rebuffed the incoming Palestinian prime minister and sent a defiant message to Israel, which tried to kill him Sept. 6 by bombing a Gaza City building where he presided at a meeting with Hamas leaders.
Wednesday's news conference marked Yassin's first high-profile public appearance since the airstrike. Yassin, along with other Hamas leaders, has been marked for death by Israel, and he had left his home only once, briefly, since the bombing.
Yassin sent a challenge to incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who has complained of the "chaos of weapons" in the Palestinian areas, proposed a comprehensive truce with Israel and invited Hamas into his government.
The setting of Wednesday's news conference reflected Hamas' growing concerns for the safety of its leaders. Yassin spoke to journalists at a mosque, presumably a site Israel would not attack because of religious sensitivities. He also was not flanked by senior Hamas officials, as would have been customary.
Qureia has not said what steps, if any, he would take to get illegal weapons off the street, as required by the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan that envisions a Palestinian state by 2005. Qureia and other officials have said they won't use force against the militants.
Yassin said Wednesday that Hamas would not disarm voluntarily.
"The weapons that our people carry to defend our land and our people, nobody can confiscate them," he said. "We can only talk about this after liberating the land. Taking weapons means surrender and defeat."
Yassin also said Hamas would not agree to a truce with Israel; a unilateral cease-fire declared by Hamas and other militants June 29 collapsed in a burst of violence several weeks later.
"There is no place to talk about a truce because the enemy is continuing his aggression, killing and settlement activities," Yassin said, but stopped short of saying there would be continued Hamas bombings and shootings.
Qureia had also proposed that Hamas join his government. In the past, Hamas — the largest Palestinian opposition group — has said it wanted nothing to do with the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites), a product of interim peace deals with Israel the group opposes.
Yassin on Wednesday renewed his opposition to a broad coalition.
"We refuse to be part of any government under (Israeli) occupation," Yassin said. "If this government wants to liberate our land and our sacred places, we will surely welcome it. But if it wants to push us to surrender, we will reject it."
Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites), meanwhile, said in remarks published Wednesday that a large-scale swap of prisoners with Lebanese guerrillas is closer than ever, but will still require Cabinet approval.
Sharon also said Israel will not release Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti in the emerging deal with Hezbollah, and that Israel will insist on DNA testing of three bodies of Israeli soldiers that are to be handed over.
Any of the issues raised by Sharon in an interview with the Maariv daily could hold up or torpedo the German-brokered deal. Israeli Cabinet approval is not assured and Barghouti's attorney has said the Palestinian leader, considered a possible successor to Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), tops Hezbollah's list of prisoners it wants freed.
Sharon's comments marked the first time he has spoken publicly on a possible prisoner exchange.
"We are closer than before (to a deal), but it's still far from being finished," he told Maariv.
In the emerging swap, Israel would release several hundred prisoners, including Lebanese guerrilla leaders Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, in exchange for ailing Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in 2000.
Israel had seized Obeid and Dirani in 1989 and 1994, respectively, as bargaining chips for the release of Israeli airman Ron Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 and is believed by Israel to be held by Iran.
Sharon said he is certain Tannenbaum is alive, but that his health is deteriorating, and suggested Israel can't wait much longer to win his freedom.
He said he would seek Cabinet approval for what he said would be a complex decision. "Let there be not one minister who is not part of the discussion," Sharon said. "I want the ministers to be personally responsible for this decision."
Ministers would be forced to choose between bringing home captives at any price and not freeing those involved in deadly attacks on Israelis. The deal would likely be lopsided, leading to the release of several hundred Arab prisoners in exchange for one Israeli captive.
Israel has agreed to such a ratio in the past, including in 1985 when three Israeli POWs were traded for 1,150 Palestinian prisoners.
Palestinian sources say Israel has agreed in principle to release imprisoned leaders of militant groups and those with life sentences.
However, Sharon said that Barghouti "cannot be a condition for this deal," saying he was "responsible for acts of murder, and he is going to prison."
An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about 300 prisoners would be freed.
Palestinian sources insisted Barghouti would be among them, despite Israel's public denials. Barghouti, a Palestinian legislator, is on trial for alleged involvement in attacks that killed 26 Israelis and insists the country has no right to try him since he was abducted from the West Bank.
Also in Gaza, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed in a gunbattle between Palestinians and Israeli troops searching for weapons-smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The firefight erupted when 20 Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers entered the Rafah refugee camp. Mohammed Hamdan, a helper of the gunmen, was killed in the gunbattle, hospital officials said, and more than a dozen Palestinians were wounded. Palestinian witnesses said troops razed two houses.
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You gotta wonder
why the reporter didn't
ask this plain question...
Hearing this declaration of war is somewhat comforting.
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