NewsMax Wires
Tuesday, July 23, 2002

"This crime can never be expressed in words. We will leave acts to express it," Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the extremist Islamic movement Hamas, told reporters at his house after the death of Sheikh Salah Shehada.

The attack, which happened hours after Yassin had offered what analysts said was an olive branch to the Israelis, drew international criticism.

Shehada was founder and leader of the military wing of Hamas, known as Izel Dein Al Qassam. He had been the No. 1 man on the Israeli military's wanted listed list for two years and Israeli security sources said he personally approved or planned most of the attacks carried out by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Another Hamas leader, Mahmoud Al Zahar, said that the strike "represents a new stage of the conflict with the enemy," adding that the next stage "would be a horrible revenge for this crime."

Other Palestinian militant groups also vowed retaliation. Islamic Jihad announced in a statement distributed in Gaza that "every restaurant, every bus and every public place in Israel will be a target for our Mujahedin [holy warriors].”

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia associated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said the attack made any resumption of talks with Israel inconceivable.

"Our response to the Israeli crimes will be tough and violent and our attacks against these criminal occupiers will be resumed soon," a statement from the group said.

The attack drew protests both locally, where a general strike brought the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to a standstill, and internationally, with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan leading a chorus of criticism.

"Israel has the legal and moral responsibility to take all measures to avoid the loss of innocent life; it clearly failed to do so in using a missile against an apartment building," said a statement from his office.

Self Defense

Israel radio said "senior political sources in Jerusalem" - usually code for the prime minister's office - rejected criticism of the attack, saying Israel was "acting within its right to self-defense."

Witnesses said an F-16 jetfighter fired a missile that leveled several homes in a Gaza City neighborhood. Palestinian officials at Shifa Hospital in Gaza said Shehada, his wife and three of his children were killed, in addition to 10 others, and that 150 others were injured, 10 of them critically. Among the dead, there were eight children aged between 2 months and 11 years, the officials said.

At least seven houses were destroyed in the attack.

The confirmation of Shehada's death came after hours of confusion over whether he had survived the attack.

On Monday, Yassin announced that Hamas would be willing to consider ending its campaign of suicide bombing attacks against Israel, if Israel withdrew from the West Bank, end targeted killings of militant leaders and stop demolition of their homes.

"Once the occupation ends all these measures, we are ready to positively study stopping martyrdom operations [suicide bombings]," Yassin told reporters as he met with three top Hamas leaders in Gaza.

"Our position has not changed, but in order to concert with the current world's situation, I would tell the occupation if you leave the West Bank towns, end demolishing of homes, stop assassination and release prisoners, we will be ready to study positively the martyrdom attacks," said Yassin.

The Hamas movement rejects the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and its armed wing has carried out dozens of suicide bombing attacks killing hundreds of people in Israel.

Palestinian analysts said Monday that Yassin's statement was a significant development, given Hamas' hard-line.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top aide to Arafat, said that the Palestinian Authority would refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council in the next 24 hours, adding, "We warn the Israeli government and hold it responsible for this massacre. The Israeli government is playing with fire."

Palestinian Minister of Information Yasser Abed Rabbo accused the United States of giving Israel "a green light" to attack Palestinians, and pointed out that the Israelis used a U.S.-supplied F16 warplane against civilians.

Also Tuesday, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian militants near the Jewish settlement of Kisofim, east of Deir El Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources and Palestinian Radio reported.

The radio - quoting Israeli military officials in the Gaza Strip - said that two militants tried to infiltrate into Kisofim when they were discovered by Israeli troops. The suspects were killed during a gunfight.

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Israel

A product that might interest you:
You can fight terrorism: David Horowitz`s Defense of Israel Campaign