[Marxism] Breaking news: Sheik Yassin murdered by Israel!!!

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[At this point, the only motivation I can see for this assasination is
the hope that  it will provoke a massive retaliation on the part of
Palestianian "militants" that would then provide Sharon with the
ultimate excuse to carry out his final solution of the Palestinian
problem...]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040322/ap
_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_explosions&cid=540&ncid=716


Israeli Airstrike Kills Hamas Founder
21 minutes ago

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and
leader of the Hamas militant group that targeted Israelis in suicide
bombings, was killed by missiles fired from Israeli helicopters as
he left a mosque at daybreak Monday, witnesses said.


Hamas confirmed the death in an announcement broadcast over
mosque loudspeakers and vowed revenge against Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).


Witnesses said Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at the
wheelchair-bound Yassin and two bodyguards as they left the
mosque, killing them instantly.


A total of four people were killed and 12 were wounded in the
attack, witnesses said.


Yussef Haddad, 35, a taxi driver, said he saw the missiles hit
Yassin and the bodyguards.


"Their bodies were shattered," he said.


Yassin was by far the most senior Palestinian militant killed in
more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Since
September 2000, 474 people ? the majority of them Israelis ?
have been killed in 112 Palestinian suicide bombings.


Sharon's government has gone after militant leaders using Israeli
helicopter gunships in a controversial policy that has resulted in a
number of civilian casualties in addition to the deaths of senior
figures in Hamas and other groups.


Yassin was viewed as an inspirational figure by his followers in the
Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and West Bank. His death could
spur violent protests not only in the Palestinian areas but in the
wider Arab and Islamic world, where he was well-regarded as a
symbol of the Palestinian battle for independence.


Thousands of angry Palestinians gathered minutes after the attack,
calling for revenge against Israel.


In announcing Yassin's death, Hamas said, "(Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel) Sharon has opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us
from cutting off his head."


Ambulances and fire trucks raced to the scene with sirens wailing,
and rescue workers gathered up the shattered bodies.


Outside the morgue at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Hamas official
Ismail Haniyeh, a close associate of Yassin, had tears in his eyes
as he confirmed Yassin's death and pledged revenge.


"This is the moment Sheik Yassin dreamed about," Haniyeh said.
"Sheik Yassin lived and died and offered his life to Palestine. Sheik
Yassin was a hero and a fighter and the leader of a nation, and (he)
is in heaven now."


Yassin founded Hamas at the start of the first Palestinian
intefadeh, or uprising, in 1987. It is an offshoot of the Islamic
fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which is based in Egypt.


The Bush administration, as well as Israel, lists Hamas as a
terrorist group.


Yassin was held in Israeli prisons for several years before being
released in 1994.





Yassin lived in a modest house in the rundown Sabra neighborhood
in Gaza City. Israel, which blamed him for inspiring Hamas
bombers and attackers who killed hundreds of Israelis, tried
unsuccessfully to kill him in a September missile strike that injured
16 people.

Past Israeli governments were reluctant to target Yassin, fearing a
firestorm of revenge attacks.




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