News, June 2003, Al-Jazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Israel tries to kill Abdel Aziz
Al-Rantissi, the senior Hamas leader
(Reuters), Khaleej Times, 10 June 2003
GAZA - Israel tried to assassinate a senior leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Tuesday, wounding Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a helicopter attack that could spur new violence and shatter a US-backed peace plan. Rantissi, 56, one of Hamas’s best-known public faces, has taken centre stage over the past week in rejecting calls by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to cease attacks on Israelis under the terms of the “road map” peace proposal.
“Israel should expect that
this crime...will not pass without a severe punishment,” Mahmoud
al-Zahar, another top Hamas official, told al-Jazeera television.
Israeli security sources confirmed
that Israel had tried to assassinate Rantissi. “Israel will continue to
fight terror. The policy hasn’t changed, because the Palestinian
Authority isn’t doing it,” one senior source said. Four
Israeli soldiers were killed on Sunday in Gaza in a rare joint attack by
Hamas and two other Palestinian groups. All three gunmen were also killed. There was no official Israeli
comment on the missile attack in Gaza City on Rantissi’s car, which
witnesses said killed two people and wounded about 20, including the Hamas
leader and his teenage son. They
said two helicopters fired seven missiles at the vehicle, setting it
ablaze. Doctors and Hamas sources
described Rantissi’s condition as ”good”. He was wounded in the leg.
Israel has called on Abbas to carry out Palestinian obligations
under the road map to disarm and dismantle resistance groups spearheading
attacks against it in the 32-month-old Palestinian uprising for statehood. But Abbas, who shook hands on the
peace plan at a landmark summit in Jordan last week with Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W. Bush, has sought a
dialogue with Hamas, hoping to seal a truce and avoid civil war among the
Palestinians. Hamas, which
has carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel broke off ceasefire
talks after the summit, accusing Abbas of making too many concessions to
Sharon. Comment on
the news: This assassination attempt on the
senior Hamas leader proves again that Sharon is not serious about peace.
He knows in advance that Hamas will reciprocate by more attacks on
Israelis. The Hamas reaction would be more severe if Al-Rantissi was
killed. Then, why did Sharon do it? Simply, this his way to end the Road
Map initiative before it starts. This is an assassination attempt on
moderation, represented by Abu Mazen and his efforts among Palestinian
organization for a Hudna, a ceasefire. It is also an assassination attempt
on the US peace initiative. It should be condemned by President Bush and
senior US officials, like they do when Palestinians attack Israelis. If it
is not condemned publicly and privately, Sharon will take it as an
encouragement to continue his war crimes and ant-peace efforts. GAZA (Reuters) - Israel tried to kill the public face of Hamas Tuesday,
wounding Palestinian leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a helicopter strike
that drew vows of revenge from Hamas and fears for a U.S.-backed peace
plan.
The attack was sharply criticized by the United States, which said it
could undermine anti-terrorism efforts by Palestinian leaders.
Witnesses said two helicopter gunships fired seven missiles that set
Rantissi's car ablaze in Gaza City, killing two people and wounding about
20. Rantissi leapt clear just in time and suffered injuries that doctors
said were not life-threatening.
Confirming he had been the target, Israeli security sources accused
Rantissi, a senior political aide to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and
a spokesman for the Islamic group, of taking on a more military role
recently.
"Israel will continue to fight terror...because the Palestinian
Authority isn't doing it," one senior source said.
Rantissi, 55, himself vowed revenge "like an earthquake."
Hamas has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings since a
Palestinian uprising for statehood began in September 2000.
President Bush, who threw his personal prestige behind an
internationally-backed peace "road map" last week was said by a
White House spokesman to be "deeply troubled" by the
assassination attempt.
"The president is concerned that the
strike will undermine efforts by Palestinian authorities and others to
bring an end to terrorist attacks and does not contribute to the security
of Israel," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he described as
"the criminal and terrorist Israeli attack." Though Hamas had
defied his plea for it to stop killing Israelis, Abbas said such Israeli
actions "sabotage" the peace process.
Rantissi has claimed center stage over the past week in rejecting calls
by Abbas to cease attacks on Israelis under the road map that envisions
creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
"Hamas will not lay down its arms even if all our leaders are
assassinated," Rantissi told Reuters from his hospital bed. "The
gun is our people's only choice and hope for liberation."
RANTISSI'S CONDITION "GOOD"
Israel targeted Rantissi two days after four of its soldiers were
killed in Gaza in a rare joint attack by Hamas and two other Palestinian
groups. All three gunmen were also killed.
"As the helicopter fired its missiles, I opened the door and
jumped immediately," Rantissi told the Arab television satellite
channel al-Jazeera. He said he had been wounded in his left arm, left leg
and chest. Doctors described his condition as "good."
"Even when Rantissi got out of the car, the helicopters fired two
missiles in his direction, but...they missed him," a witness said.
The strike, which also wounded Rantissi's teenage son, came a day after
Israel took first steps to meet a road map pledge by tearing down 10 of an
estimated 60 Jewish settler outposts, all unauthorized by the government,
in the West Bank.
The peace plan also calls on the Palestinian Authority to disarm and
dismantle militant groups.
But Abbas, who agreed the road map at a June 4 summit in Jordan with
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Bush, has sought a dialogue with
Hamas, hoping to seal a truce and avoid a Palestinian civil war.
Settler outposts removed The assassination attempt was
launched a day after Israel took initial steps on the ground to put the
road map into motion by tearing down 10 Jewish settler outposts in the
West Bank. The removal of the
clusters of caravans on lonely hilltops, set Sharon on a path to
confrontation with settlers he had long championed. But he drew
Palestinian derision. “This is a theatrical and
insignificant step,” said Nabil Abu Rudainah, a top aide to Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat. Speaking
again after the attack on Rantissi, he said: “This shows Israel’s
determination to abort the road map.” US Secretary of State Colin Powell
welcomed the Israeli move, which followed a pledge Sharon made at the June
4 Aqaba summit in Jordan. “I’m pleased that Israel is
now discharging the commitment it made to the international community at
the Aqaba summit,” Powell said in Chile. The road map, the most
far-reaching Middle East peace plan in more than two years, calls for an
end to violence and reciprocal confidence-building steps leading to
creation of Palestinian state by 2005.
They include the removal of settler outposts set up since March
2001, the month Sharon took office, and a freeze on construction inside
established settlements. Israel’s Peace Now, a
non-governmental movement which monitors settlements, says that there are
about 60 outposts, none authorised by the government.
Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim said further steps by
Israel would depend on Abbas and his security chief Mohammed Dahlan
reining in resistance groups. Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza in the
1967 Middle East war and the international community considers the
settlements illegal under international law.
Tue June 10, 2003 11:12 AM ET
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |