Assassination Attempt on PLO Leader (8 views) Subscribe   
   From:  David (DavidABrown)    6/10/2003 2:03 pm  
To:  ALL   (1 of 1)  
 
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Please Consider this an URGENT CALL to PRAYER for both Israel and it's neighbors.

Jun. 10, 2003
Hamas head vows vengeance for botched assassination
By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF

Speaking with Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV from his hospital bed several hours after the attack, Rantisi vowed to avenge the attack We will continue with our holy war and resistance until every last criminal Zionist is evicted from this land," Rantisi said. 

The botched attempt to assassinate Abdel Aziz Rantisi, one of the leaders of Hamas, drew criticism from US President George W. Bush Tuesday, as well as putting into motion an escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence, with Palestinians firing Kassam-type rockets into a southern Israeli town, and the IDF killing a further three Palestinians in Gaza. 

Rantisi survived an IDF rocket attack on his jeep Tuesday morning, Israel's first deployment of what it terms a "targeted killing" since the Aqaba summit, escaping with leg, hand, and chest injuries, while one of his bodyguards and a bystander were killed. 

Twenty-nine people were wounded in the barrage of seven rockets fired from Apache helicopters at about 11 a.m. in the heart of Gaza City. 

US President George W. Bush said he was "deeply troubled" with the rocket strike on Rantisi, and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas angrily denounced it as a "terrorist act" and a "terrible deterioration" of the peace efforts. 

In retaliation to the attack, Palestinians later fired five Kassam-type missiles into the southern Israeli town of Sderot. No one was wounded in the attack. 

Later, IDF troops fired from tanks and helicopters toward a Palestinian residential area in the northern Gaza Strip, killing three Palestinians and wounding 30, doctors said. This brought the number of Palestinian killed by IDF fire in Gaza Tuesday to four. 

IDF Spokeswoman was quoted on Channel Two News as saying the attack targeted Palestinians who fired the missiles at Sderot. The three were residents of the area between the town of Beit Hanoun and the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, close to the border fence with Israel. They were identified as members of the Abed Rabbo family, two 19-year-old men and a 16-year-old girl. Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said 30 residents were wounded. 

Speaking with Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV from his hospital bed several hours after the attack, Rantisi vowed to avenge the attack We will continue with our holy war and resistance until every last criminal Zionist is evicted from this land," Rantisi said. 

Rantisi, 52, a trained physician, is one of the most senior terrorist leaders targeted by Israel in a nearly three-year conflict with Palestinians. While technically a political leader of Hamas who takes care to deny involvement in "military" actions, Rantisi has been one of the group's most hardline spokesmen. 

He is close to Hamas' spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin. At least one of the rockets fired Tuesday struck Rantisi's Pajero jeep and the vehicle burst into flames and was quickly reduced to a scorched heap of metal. Rantisi apparently spotted the helicopters before the rockets were fired and jumped out of the vehicle. 

"I opened the door and jumped out immediately," Rantisi told reporters. He sustained shrapnel injuries in the leg and chest, and was undergoing surgery at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital. 

A Rantisi bodyguard and a 44-year-old woman, were killed, said Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, director of Shifa Hospital.The name of the bodyguard killed in the attack, Mustafa Kemal, was released Tuesday afternoon. 

The attack came two days after an assault on an IDF position at the Erez Junction in Gaza killed four soldiers, while a fifth was killed in a separate attack in Hebron. It clearly dealt a blow to the Palestinian Authority, which has sought to negotiate a cease-fire deal with Hamas. 

In a statement released later Tuesday, IDF Spokeswoman accused Hamas's leadership of undermining the 'roadmap', citing a spate of attacks against Israelis carried out by the organization in the wake of the Aqaba summit. The IDF will continue to do everything possible to fight terror and safeguard Israel's security, she added. 

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer later said Bush was "deeply troubled" with the attack. The White House has often tempered such warnings to Israel with by emphasizing that "Israel has a right to defend itself," and Fleischer repeated that language Tuesday However, he added , "Israel has to act on that right in a manner that is consistent with larger objectives, and in this case the president views this as deeply troubling." 

Speaking on Channel One, Minister- without-Portfolio Gideon Ezra (Likud) endorsed the botched attempt. "Rantisi is the PA's number one inciter," he said. "It is (Israel's) wish to strengthen Abu Mazen," he said, "but not commit national suicide." 

"If Israel continues these actions, the 'roadmap' will be over before it is begun," said Labor MK Matan Vilnai. "I'm not Israel should not have retaliated to the killing of seven Israelis since the Aqaba summit," he said, "but the timing of this action, if not its intent, was unwise. We will pay a price for this." 

National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky (Shinui) also slammed the timing of the attack. "Rantisi is known as a Palestinian provocateur," he said, "there was no reason whatsoever to strike at him today of all days." 

Hundreds of Hamas supporters rushed to the hospital where Rantisi is hospitalized, chanting "Jihad (holy war) will continue." Dozens of Hamas gunmen fired in the air. 

(With The Associated Press)



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org




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Edited 6/10/2003 5:04:25 PM ET by David (DAVIDABROWN) 
  
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