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"Hamas is not Yassin or Rantissi. We drive our force from our faith in the legitimacy of our cause," Ghazal said
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GAZA
CITY, April 17 (IslamOnline.net) - The Palestinian resistance movement
Hamas will not be weakened by the assassination of its Gaza Strip leader
Abdelaziz Rantissi, one of the group’s leaders told IslamOnline.net.
"Rantissi
was not the first Hamas leader to be assassinated
by the occupation force," said Mohammad Ghazal.
He
recalled the Israeli assassination of Hamas founder and spiritual leader
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
An
Israeli strike helicopter
fired three missiles at the 67-year-old wheelchair-bound
Sheikh Yassin after performing the dawn prayers in a mosque near his
home, killing him and at least eight others.
In
exclusive statements to IOL after the announcement of Rantissi’s
death, Ghazal asserted that all leaders and members of Hamas are being
targeted by the Israeli occupation forces.
"Hamas
is not Yassin or Rantissi. We drive our force from our faith in the
legitimacy of our cause and the support of thousands of Palestinians,
Arabs and Muslims," he underlined.
The
Hamas official stressed that the retaliation of the group’s military
wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, is "inevitable," and "will
definitely match the level of the Israeli crimes."
U.S.
Green Light
Ghazal
said that U.S. President George Bush’s unwavering support for Israeli
Premier Ariel Sharon was tantamount to a green light to pursue his
assassination policy against Palestinian resistance leaders.
Breaking
with a decades-old
U.S. policy, U.S. President George W. Bush told a joint press conference
with Sharon Wednesday that the return of the 1949 armistice lines was
now "unrealistic".
Arguing
that Israel should never be forced to withdraw from the entire West
Bank, Bush said that the Palestinian refugees -- around 6 millions -
should be settled within a future Palestinian state and not inside what
is now Israel, in what is dubbed as a “Bushfour
Promise”.
Upon
learning the sad news of Rantissi’s assassination, thousands of
Palestinians took to the streets across the occupied territories to vent
their anger at the practices of the Israeli occupation army.
