Yemen outrage at assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israeli forcesWrath! [Archives:2004/723/Front Page]

By Peter Willems
Yemen Times Staff
The assassination of spiritual leader and Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday by an Israeli missile attack has ignited anger among Yemenis.
“It was murder, the worst murder in history,” said Ali Hathall, who was among thousands of Yemenis out protesting against the assassination at Seventy Arena in Sana'a on Tuesday morning. “Sheikh Yassin was the best leader to free the Palestinians, and Sharon is the worst terrorist in the world.”
During the protest on Tuesday, President Ali Abdullah Saleh addressed the demonstrators condemning the assassination. He said that the assassination of Yassin was a “clear defiance against the Arabs and Muslims, not just Palestinians.”
President Saleh pointed out that “although Sheikh Yassin was murdered, there are still thousands of freedom fighters among Palestinians.”
“This act is a message to the Arab and Muslim nations and the second message from the Zionist entity is to be sent to Arafat.”
“When would the Arabs wake up and realize that this is a challenge for the Arab peoples?” Saleh wondered.
He called on the Palestinian groups to join their powers “to face this Zionist terrorism”.
Saleh also slammed the recent initiatives about reforms in the region, dubbing them as “Zionist conspiracies” against Arab and Muslim nations.
“External pressures on Arabs to make political, social and economic reforms in the Middle East would not make any difference because of the fact that these reforms should come from within, the Arabs themselves not from outside”, the President said.
“We do not accept any external pressures” he added.
President Saleh also called on the United Nation to impose sanctions on Israel and to “prosecute Sharon before the International Criminal Court as a war criminal and terrorist.”
“He (Sharon) is the world's No. 1 terrorist. There is no terrorist like Sharon, who is killing innocent women and children in Palestine.”
Israeli helicopters fired three missiles that killed Yassin and seven others as they left a mosque in Gaza City at dawn. Up to 17 were wounded, including two of Yassin's sons, and the Sheikh's wheelchair was found in a pool of blood after the attack.
President Saleh also said that Israel has tried to foil attempts to find a peaceful solution.
“After the Arab Summit in Beirut, Sharon blockaded Arafat in Ramallah, then he killed Ahmed Yassin before the Tunis Summit,” said Saleh.
Fayez Al-Jawad, Information Attache at the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Sana'a, told Yemen Times that “killing Ahmed Yassin was a bad crime. Israeli behavior, especially the killing of Ahmed Yassin, will keep things the way they are: no peace. This will kill any chances to make peace between Israel and Palestine, and it requires international intervention, especially from the United States and the European Union, to put pressure on Israel to take steps and get back on the road map to peace.”
But Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups, like Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, have threatened heavy retaliation for the assassination.
A statement from Izzedine Al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, said, “Whoever decided to kill Yassin decided to kill hundreds of the Zionists.”
In the past, assassinations of Hamas members have led to waves of attacks on Israeli buses, restaurants and cafes, which have stalled the US-backed peace road map.
Leaders around the world have either condemned the assassination or warned that the attack would cause an escalation of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the assassination was “unacceptable, unjustified and very unlikely to achieve its objective.” The European Union's policy chief Javier Solana said, “This type of action does not contribute at all to create the conditions of peace.”
The Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, also accused Israel of trying to derail the peace process. According to his spokesman, Houssam Zaki, “With this odious operation, Israel is seeking to undermine all hope of creating conditions that would allow us to envisage a political solution to the conflict in the Middle East.”
It has been reported that according to Israeli security sources, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon personally ordered and monitored the helicopter attack. In his address on Israeli radio, Sharon said that Yassin was “one of Israel's greatest enemies” and that Israel had the “natural right” to target Palestinian militants.
In the Izzedine Al-Qassam statement, Hamas blamed not only Israel for the air strike but also the United States.
“The Zionists cannot have carried out this act without the approval of the US administration, which carries the responsibility for this crime,” the Izzedine Al-Qassam statement said.
According to Condoleezza Rice, the national security advisor of President Bush, the US Government was given no prior warning of the attack. But the US Government, which along with the Israeli government considers Hamas as a terrorist organization, said that Israel has the right to defend itself against a “terrorist” group.
“Israel has a right to defend itself,” said White House National Security Council spokesman, Sean McCormack.
After the assassination of Yassin, Hamas leaders called on Muslims to join them. “All the Muslims of the world will be honored to join in the retaliation for this crime,” said the Hamas statement.
The anger for the assassination of Yassin in Yemen carried a similar message among many who were out protesting on Tuesday.
“I am a Muslim and I want our leaders to open the door to let us carry out a jihad,” cried out Yasser Raja at the protest. “It is time to get involved in the struggle in Palestine and return Al-Aqsa to us. This is a war against Islam.”
Yassin, who was 67, used a wheelchair most of his life after a childhood accident that left him a quadriplegic. He founded Hamas in 1987 during the Palestinian intifada, and was held in an Israeli prison for several years before being released in 1997. Israel attempted to kill Yassin last September with an air strike, but he escaped with just a small wound to his hand.
“The assassination of Ahmed Yassin has affected the people in the Arab world dramatically,” said Mazen Luqman, Director of Modern American Language Institute in Sana'a. “Sheikh Yassin was a hero. He was a man who stood up to Israel and was a man with integrity. He was straightforward and direct who never changed direction or was vague on his intentions and had a vision to liberate the Palestinians.”
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets of Gaza City for Yassin's funeral on Monday. It is considered the largest gathering in Gaza in recent history. Tens of thousands of Palestinians also gathered in the West Bank.
It has been reported that clashes have already erupted between Palestinians and Israelis in Gaza and Tel Aviv. On Monday night, an anti-tank missile was fired at Israeli troops from the Hezbollah along the border between Israel and Lebanon. Israel responded with an air strike and artillery fire.
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