EGYPT: SECRETARY OF THE ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS LEADER AL - RANTISSI AS PROTESTS CONTINUE
Record ID:
222936
EGYPT: SECRETARY OF THE ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS LEADER AL - RANTISSI AS PROTESTS CONTINUE
- Title: EGYPT: SECRETARY OF THE ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS LEADER AL - RANTISSI AS PROTESTS CONTINUE
- Date: 18th April 2004
- Summary: (W4) CAIRO, EGYPT (APRIL 18, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SCU SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA SAYING: "My comment is to condemn this crime and once again the terrorism of a country, which it seems is continuing the killing of citizens and terrorism attacks in Gaza and the Palestinian occupied territories. This is an extremely unfortunate matter because this proves that the circle of violence will continue and exists regardless of what was said about the Israeli peace process and how we can build on it, which it demolished 24 hours after presenting it, and this in itself is suspicious. Actually, what is happening in the occupied territories under the Israeli policy will never lead to either peace or stability or to the end of the circle of violence, but to the increase of violence and tension." 0.59 2. VARIOUS OF MOUSSA GETTING INTO CAR AND LEAVING 1.14 (W4) CAIRO, EGYPT (APRIL 18, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. SLV, AL AZHAR UNIVERSITY SIGN AND SECURITY STANDING AROUND IT 1.18 4. WIDE OF STUDENTS DEMONSTRATING IN THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS AND SHOUTING (Arabic): "We want the land of hostages free! Revolution, revolution against the Zionist attack!" 1.27 5. SLV OF STUDENTS MARCHING PAST HOLDING POSTER OF ASSASSINATED HAMAS LEADER ABDEL AZIZ AL-RANTISSI 1.42 6. CLOSE OF RANTISSI POSTER 1.47 7. VARIOUS OF STUDENTS STAMPING THEIR FEET AND SHOUTING "Revenge, revenge for the Aqsa Brigades!" 2.02 8. WIDE /PAN OF STUDENTS STANDING IN FRONT OF BUILDING CHANTING 2.12 9. VARIOUS OF STUDENTS BURNING THE BRITISH, AMERICAN AND ISRAELI FLAGS AND SHOUTING (ARABIC) " "Burn it, burn it! Remove them from our land!" 2.33 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUSSAM SABRI ABDEL MENIUM, UNIVERSITY STUDENT, SAYING: "We will wait for our opportunity to kill every Israeli on the Palestinian land. We will continue our struggle. The resistance will continue until every Israeli on the Palestinian land goes out. No more peace, no more peace and no more talks." 2.55 11. SLV SECURITY CARS 3.02 12. WIDE OF SECURITY FORCES SURROUNDING THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS 3.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 3rd May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Reuters ID: LVACNNFRSIZXZWH397UA02WKZBEE
- Story Text: Head of Arab League Amr Moussa condemns Israeli
assassination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi/Al
Azhar students protest the silence of Arab and Islamic
world in the face of Israel's assassinations policy.
Head of the Arab League Amr Moussa condemned
Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Abdul Aziz
al-Rantissi early on Sunday morning (April 18).
"My comment is to condemn this crime and once again the
terrorism of a country, which it seems is continuing the
killing of citizens and terrorism attacks in Gaza and the
Palestinian occupied territories," Moussa told reporters
before flying to Kuwait.
He said the assassination proved that the circle of
violence will continue regardless of Israel's proposed
peace process.
"This is an extremely unfortunate matter because this
proves that the circle of violence will continue and exists
regardless of what was said about the Israeli peace process
and how we can build on it, which it demolished 24 hours
after presenting it, and this in itself is suspicious.
Actually, what is happening in the occupied territories
under the Israeli policy will never lead to either peace or stability
o
r to the end of the circle of violence, but to
the increase of violence and tension," he said.
Meanwhile at a residence for students at Cairo's
al-Azhar University, thousands of students demonstrated on
Sunday, condemning what they called the silence of the Arab
and Islamic world in the face of Israel's assassinations
policy.
Overlooked by heavy security, they chanted slogans such
as: "We want the land of hostages free! Revolution,
revolution against the Zionist attack!" and "Revenge,
revenge for the Aqsa Brigades!"
They burned the American, British and Israeli flags
while chanting "Burn it, burn it, remove them from our
land!"
Israel killed Rantissi three days after Sharon won
Bush's backing at the White House for his plan to withdraw
from Gaza and four Jewish settlements in the West Bank by
the end of 2005.
Bush coupled the endorsement with a sharp departure
from U.S. policy. He said Israel could not be expected to
give up all land captured in the 1967 Middle East war and
rejected any right of return of Palestinian refugees to
Israel.
Sharon presented his "disengagement plan" to his
cabinet on Sunday. But a vote will be delayed until after a
referendum on the pullout is held on May 2 among the
200,000 members of the prime minister's right-wing Likud
party.
The Hamas military wing pledged "100 retaliations" for
Rantissi, a 56-year-old firebrand who was the second Hamas
leader Israel killed in Gaza in less than a month. Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin died in a missile attack on March 22.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised the army
for Saturday's (April 17) helicopter strike on Rantissi,
the Palestinian Muslim group's political leader in Gaza,
and pledged the Jewish state would continue to "fight
terror".
Sharon told his cabinet the assassination was part of a
dual strategy to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza -- home to
1.3 million Palestinians and occupied by Israel since the
1967 Middle East war -- while striking at militants.
Hamas has so far failed to carry out the kind of
massive attack it had promised to avenge Yassin's death.
Rantissi, an Egyptian-trained paediatrician, was
outspoken in his support of violence. Israel branded him "a
mastermind of terrorism". He died when two missiles slammed
into his car hours after a suicide bomber killed an Israeli
soldier at northern Gaza's Erez crossing.
Palestinian leaders say the go-it-alone Israeli steps
mask an intention to annex major Jewish settlements in the
West Bank.
Some 7,500 settlers live in the Gaza Strip. About
200,000 settlers and two million Palestinians reside in the
West Bank.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None