A 'declaration of war'

2003-06-10 14:37

Doha - Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi threatened on Tuesday "not to leave one Jew in Palestine" in remarks to Al-Jazeera television from his Gaza hospital bed as he recovered from an Israeli bid to kill him.

"By God we will not leave one Jew in Palestine. We will fight them with all the strength we have. This is our land, not the Jews'," Rantissi said after undergoing surgery for his wounds.

Speaking by telephone, Rantissi said he was injured in the left leg and arm and also had a superficial chest wound from the helicopter attack on his car that left three Palestinians dead and more than two dozen wounded.

"You will have no security except outside the homeland (Palestine)," Rantissi said, addressing the Israelis.

"We will defend this homeland with all the strength we have. We have Allah on our side, and we have the sons of the Arab and Islamic nation on our side," he said.

"I say this without having yet woken up from the anaesthesia," Rantissi added.

Asked how he felt, Rantissi said: "I am alright, thanks be to Allah. ... I have been deprived of martyrdom. May Allah grant me martyrdom."

A Hamas statement said that the attack was an Israeli "declaration of war," and that all cease-fire talks with the Palestinian Authority are off.

Senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud al-Zahar, told Al-Jazeera satellite television that "Israel should expect that this crime...will not pass without severe punishment." - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA