Assassination of Shaikh Yassin Provokes Muslim Fury and U.S. Disavowal

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Israel's assassination of Hamas spiritual leader, Shaikh Ahmed Yassin, Monday was greeted with Palestinian vows of revenge, European condemnation, traces of dissent in Israel's cabinet and U.S. denials it gave a green light to the killing.

"The battle is open and war between us and them is open. They are the killers of prophets and today they killed an Islamic symbol," said senior Hamas political leader Abdel-Aziz al Rantissi.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction called for "war, war, war on the sons of Zion. An eye for an eye. There will be a response within hours, God willing."

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie called the missile attack on the spiritual leader of Hamas as he left dawn prayers in a wheelchair "a crazy and very dangerous act."

"It opens the door wide to chaos. Yassin was known for his moderation and he was controlling Hamas. Therefore this is a dangerous, cowardly act," Qurie said.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking to reporters, defended the assassination of Yassin by calling him "the Palestinian bin Laden."

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that with the act "Israel made clear again that (Palestinian leadership) has no immunity and that Israel will strike against its activists, its deputies, its leaders anywhere they are."

A dissenting voice in the Israeli cabinet, Interior Minister Avraham Poraz, said Yassin had not been "a ticking bomb" and his death could lead to the loss of more Israeli lives in suicide attacks -- a warning echoed by figures on the Israeli left.

White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice denied suggestions by Hamas that Washington had given Israel a green light for the assassination, or at least advance warning.

"It is very important that everyone step back now and try now to be calm in the region. There is always a possibility of a better day in the Middle East," she said on NBC television.

Mohamed Mahdi Akef, leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood which shares the Islamist views of Hamas, called it "an unforgivable crime" and said violence was the only language that Israel understood. "We will not rest, we will not sleep until the last Zionist leaves our territory," Akef told Reuters. Lebanon's Hizbollah said Israelis would "pay a heavy price for their ugly crime."

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid in the Arab world after Iraq, said the assassination "aborted the peace process," but also called for a return to direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Egypt said it would boycott March 26 celebrations of the anniversary of its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Arab television stations replaced scheduled programs with live coverage of Yassin's funeral. Mourners reached to touch the flag-draped coffin in the biggest turnout in Gaza since Arafat's triumphant entry in 1994 after interim peace deals with Israel.

In Mosul, the third-largest city of U.S.-occupied Iraq, about 500 students demonstrated against the assassination of Yassin on the campus of the university, burning an Israeli and an American flag and chanting anti-American slogans.

Pakistan's Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shaykh Rashid Ahmad said the Hamas leader had "embraced martyrdom."

"It is impossible to quell freedom movements by brutal use of force," he added in comments reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan news agency, monitored by the BBC.

EU foreign ministers, at a regular monthly meeting, condemned the "extra-judicial killing" but also recalled past EU condemnations of Hamas suicide bombings and urged restraint on all sides.

"It's unacceptable, it's unjustified, and it's very unlikely to achieve its objective," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said it would "only fuel the cycle of violence."

Russia called for restraint by Israelis and Palestinians and China said it was "deeply worried" by the assassination. The Pope's spokesman said the Vatican deplored it.

The assassination weighed on financial markets, where other non-economic concerns -- including continued turmoil in Iraq and the Madrid bombings -- have helped push down stocks and raise demand for safe-haven bonds and gold.

GAZA (Reuters) — Israel assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday, striking its heaviest blow against the Palestinian group and provoking threats of revenge. Israeli security sources said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon personally ordered and monitored the helicopter attack on the paralysed cleric, whose wheelchair lay smashed in a pool of blood after three missiles exploded outside a Gaza mosque.

The assassination was Israel's biggest since the April 1988 killing in Tunis of Palestinian commando chief Abu Jihad. At least seven other people were killed in the Gaza strike and two of Yassin's sons were among the 15 wounded.

The attack on Yassin, 67, as he and his entourage left dawn prayers, may have been aimed at weakening Hamas to prevent it claiming victory if Sharon goes ahead with a unilateral pullout from Gaza.

For many years Israel held back from killing Yassin, though he escaped an assassination attempt last September.

"The state of Israel this morning hit the first and foremost leader of the Palestinian terrorist murderers," Sharon said. But some Israelis, including a member of Sharon's Cabinet, Arab leaders and many Middle East political analysts, said his death would only encourage activists to step up attacks.

Sharon has ruled out peace talks with the Palestinians until attacks on Israelis stop. He has threatened to draw a West Bank "security line" that would leave them with less land than they seek for a state should the roadmap remain stalled.

"It is a clear message to the world that the Israelis are not ready to sit with the Palestinians for peace," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told reporters after the killing, which he said "opened the door to chaos."

Israel stepped up strikes against Palestinian fighters after suicide bombers killed 10 people at the port of Ashdod last week.

About 200,000 mourners poured out their grief in a funeral procession for Yassin and the other dead. It was the biggest show of support for a Palestinian leader since Yasser Arafat's triumphant entry into the Gaza Strip in 1994.

"Sharon, start preparing your body bags because [Hamas'] Qassam Brigades will put Israeli houses in mourning and make a funeral in every Israeli street," the crowd chanted.

Eyes burning with tears and rage, mourners reached to touch Yassin's Islamic flag-draped coffin. The flags of Palestinian factions flapped in the wind in a stark and dusty cemetery.

A barrage of homemade Hamas rockets roared out of Gaza towards Israeli targets and Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks returned fire. No casualties were reported.

In signs of revenge in Israel, a Palestinian wounded three Israelis with an axe near Tel Aviv. Police said an Arab stabbed three passengers on an Israeli bus in Jaffa before fleeing.

Protests erupted in the West Bank and Gaza and Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including an 11-year-old and at least one man.

Washington denied Hamas accusations it had given Israel the green light to kill Yassin and appealed for regional calm.

Asked if Sharon had called President George W. Bush directly to tell him Israel planned the killing, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said on television: "He did not."

She did not directly condemn the attack. "Let's remember that Hamas is a terrorist organisation and that Sheikh Yassin himself has been heavily involved in terrorism," she said.

The European Union criticised the "extrajudicial killing" but also recalled past EU condemnations of suicide bombings.

A witness said a missile destroyed Yassin's wheelchair and the Hamas leader lay on the ground. "People there darted left and right. Then another two missiles landed," the witness added.

Yassin's son Mohammed, who was unhurt, told Reuters he had remarked to his father about three hours before the attack about an Israeli reconnaissance plane spotted in the sky.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking to reporters, called Yassin "the Palestinian (Osama) Ben Laden."

But Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz said Yassin was not "a ticking bomb" and revenge could cost many Israeli lives.

Lebanese Hizbollah attacked Israeli posts, drawing an air strike, after saying Israel would pay heavily.

Palestinian Authority officials called Yassin a moderating force in Hamas, an Islamic movement he co-founded in 1987 with encouragement from Israel, which hoped the new group would undercut its long-time enemy, Palestine Liberation Organisation chief Arafat.

Israel's actions spooked markets. US and European stocks fell along with the dollar on worries of more violence and possible revenge in the Middle East and abroad.