Israel Kills Top Hamas Leader in Missile Strike, Hamas Vows 100 Retaliations

Sat Apr 17, 2004 10:50 PM ET
By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters)

http://www.aljazeerah.info/18%20n/Israel%20Kills%20Top%20Hamas%20Leader%20in%20Missile%20Strike,%20Hamas%20Vows%20100%20Retaliations.htm

Israel assassinated top Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, drawing a threat of 100 revenge attacks from the resistance Palestinian group rocked by another major blow before a planned U.S.-backed pullout from Gaza.

The helicopter missile strike on Rantissi's car in Gaza City on Saturday stoked Palestinian anger already high over President Bush's statement this week that Israel could retain land Palestinians want for a state in any peace deal.

"The Palestinian cabinet considers this terrorist Israeli campaign is a direct result of American encouragement and the complete bias of the American administration toward the Israeli government," Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said.

The United States denied it gave Israel the green light to go after Rantissi but refrained from condemning the assassination, saying only it was "gravely concerned" for Middle East peace and stability.

Hours after two missiles slammed into Rantissi's car, killing the bearded Egyptian-trained pediatrician and two of his bodyguards, Hamas's armed wing issued a statement vowing "100 retaliations" that will shake "the criminal entity."

Tens of thousands of Palestinians surged onto Gaza's street promising to avenge Rantissi, 56. He was assassinated less than a month after Hamas's spiritual leader and co-founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was killed in a similar attack from the air.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the killing, saying it could lead to more violence in the Middle East.

"(Annan) reiterates that extrajudicial killings are violations of international law and calls on the government of Israel to immediately end this practice," a spokesman said.

ATTACK LAUNCHED ON HEELS OF U.S. BACKING FOR SHARON

Israel killed Rantissi three days after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won Bush's backing at the White House for his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four isolated 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 the Jewish state.

Sharon planned to present 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.

Sharon is determined the withdrawal, which he said could breathe new life into a violence-stalled peace "road map" backed by the United States, should not be seen as a victory for Palestinian resistance, and he has vowed to kill their leaders.

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 and 1.3 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip. About 200,000 settlers and two million Palestinians reside in the West Bank.

Israel's two Arab peace partners, Egypt and Jordan, joined the European Union in condemning the killing and cautioning such assassinations could destroy chances for Middle East peace.

"Israel has a right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks, but actions of this type are not only unlawful, they are not conducive to lowering tension," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said such killings were "unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive."

A State Department official, repeating a formula the United States routinely uses when a Palestinian leader is attacked, urged Israel to consider the consequences of its actions, while adding: "Israel has a right to defend itself."

Asked once in a television interview if he was afraid for his life, Rantissi said he could die of cancer or a heart attack as easily as from an Israeli Apache helicopter strike.

"I prefer the Apache," he said.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Corinne Heller in Jerusalem).

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