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Yassin death fuels fury
23/03/2004 16:38 - (SA)
Cairo - Israel's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Palestinian Hamas movement, will prompt even more Moslems to join extremist groups, Arab observers said on Tuesday.
Only hours after the rocket attack on the wheelchair-bound sheikh a declaration appeared on the website of an Islamist group which announced revenge against the United States and its allies.
The declaration was said to be written by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade which is believed to be connected to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
However, even if the statement should not be authentic, it still shows the polarising impact which the killing of the ageing Islamic leader has had in Gaza and beyond the Palestinian territories.
"Oh Hamas, you are the weapon and we are the bullets," Egyptian demonstrators were shouting in a protest in front of Cairo's legal chambers on Tuesday.
The Saudi newspaper Arab News even believes that the Israeli government had intended this.
By triggering a new wave of violence, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was hoping to shift the world's perception of the armed Palestinian groups that are operating only in Israel and the occupied territories, the newspaper said.
The newspaper interpreted Sharon's strategy behind the killing of Yassin thus: If people lost sight of the difference between Palestinian fighters and international terrorists spreading violence worldwide, then the Palestinians might themselves become a target.
"He obviously hopes that a wave of (Palestinian) violence will turn the Palestinians into targets of attack in (US President) George W Bush's war against terror," the daily said on Tuesday.
Such a development would even play into the hands of al-Qaeda terrorists and their sympathisers, analysts say.
In their internet declaration on Tuesday, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades call on Hamas to extend their campaign beyond Israel and also target the United States - the "Satan of our era" - directly in the future.
And the death of the paraplegic sheikh also has another effect, analysts say.
The killing further undermines those leaders of the Arab world from Rabat to Damascus whose image already suffered a blow when they failed to prevent the US invasion of Iraq last year.
For even though the Arab governments unanimously condemned the murder of Yassin, many Arabs believe it is their leaders' weakness and lack of political unity which has ultimately enabled Israel to pursue its current policy. - Sapa-dpa
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