- Title: GAZA: HAMAS VOWS REVENGE IF ISRAELI TARGETS SHEIKH YASSIN
- Date: 16th January 2004
- Summary: (U7) GAZA CITY, GAZA (JANUARY 16, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV MASKED AND ARMED MEN MARCH IN SUPPORT OF HAMAS SPIRITUAL LEADER SHEIKH AHMED YASSIN 0.04 2. CU OF MASKED MAN 0.09 3. SV MASKED ARMED MILITANTS RUNNING 0.15 4. LV OF MILITANTS WITH FLAGS 0.20 5. SV MILITANTS HOLDING POSTER OF SHEIKH YASSIN 0.28 6. S
- Embargoed: 31st January 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA5Z9S8L9MZQ4TJNV635PZA9DLH
- Story Text: Hamas vows revenge if Israel targets Sheikh Yassin.
Thousands of Palestinians rallied on Friday night
(January 16) in support of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City only hours after Israel has
"marked him for death" following a suicide bombing that
killed four Israeli
security personnel in Gaza on Wednesday (January 14).
Among the protesters were dozens of masked Hamas
members who waved green flags as spokesmen announced
through loudspeakers that the militant group would fight on
against Israel even if the Jewish state kills its leaders.
Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi marched ahead
of the demonstration and warned Israel of heavy reprisals
should they attack the militant group's Spiritual leader.
"If they (Israelis) are going to try again to target
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin then there would be an expensive price.
They should wait and expect" he said.
The defiant Rantissi renewed his call for Israel to
pull out of Gaza and the West Bank.
"(Addressing Israeli government) You are occupiers and
you have to live with no security and no peace without an
end to the Palestinian tragedy, which you are the cause for
that tragedy," he said.
Yassin, the wheelchair-bound Muslim cleric who waited
at home while thousands of supporters were marching to his
house told reporters he does not fear Israelis threats
which in his opinion only an indication of failure and
defeat.
"Their (Israeli government) threats only increase our
strength, faith and sacrifice, because we are the owners of
rights. We do not fear the threats because we are seekers
of martyrdom. Therefore the threats are an indication of
failure
and defeat. Of him (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon)
being defeated, and now he has to declare his defeat in
front of his people. He is broken in front of the will of
the palestinian people" said Yassin from his house.
Yassin said Hamas would not lay down its arms without an
Israeli withdrawal.
"Our people are determined. They have come out today
to reject the threats and to confirm the continuation of
resistance. They (Israelis) bargain with us in order to
drop our arms, but we stress that there will be no truce
before the liberation, the liberation of the land and
humans and the removal of the occupation. All forms of
occupation. They want to threat us. we do not fear threats
and resistance and Jihad will continue and sacrifice will
continue and victory is ours," the Spiritual Leader said.
It was unclear whether the Jewish state had made a
final decision to kill the Hamas spiritual leader, but
Israel already targeted Yassin in a botched attempt to kill
him last September.
Hamas, an Islamic group dedicated to Israel's
destruction, claimed responsibility for Wednesday's bombing
by a Palestinian mother of two at a border industrial zone.
It killed three soldiers and a security officer, further
undermining chances of reviving a U.S.-backed peace plan.
On Thursday (January 15), Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
deputy, Ehud Olmert, threatened renewed military strikes on
Palestinian militants "planning or setting in motion acts
of murder".
Along with a steep drop in suicide bombings in Israel,
the army has scaled back its attacks on Hamas leaders after
a series of largely failed attempts to kill them in the
summer.
Israeli officials say army raids and a controversial
barrier in the West Bank are responsible for the relative
lull in attacks inside Israel. But there has been much
speculation about a de facto ceasefire with Hamas, which
both sides deny.
In Wednesday's bombing, Reem al-Reyashi, 22, detonated
her explosives belt during a security check inside the Erez
crossing terminal on the Gaza-Israel border. Reyashi, from
a prominent merchant family, left behind a three-year-old
son and a daughter aged one.
It was the first time Hamas, behind dozens of suicide
attacks in Israel, has used a woman bomber. The group said
it did so because of toughened Israeli security obstacles
facing its male bombers.
Reyashi's brother said her family had been unaware of
her intentions. "We were shocked," Ayman al-Reyashi said,
calling the bombing "an act of honour".
Israel's channel 2 television said on Friday Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering changing the
route of a controversial barrier in the West Bank.
Sharon is facing mounting pressure from the
international community and even his own justice minister
to change the route.
Israel says the barrier is needed as a defense against
suicide bombers. Palestinians say it is a land grab denying
them land they want for an independent state.
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