Enough to make any decent person's blood boil...

[OaktonSkins/BushFan]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040116/D8047GUG2.html

Hamas Founder Brushes Off Israeli Warning

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Jan 16, 6:49 PM (ET)

By KARIN LAUB

(AP) Spiritual leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas Sheik Ahmed Yassin smiles as he is pushed...

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JERUSALEM (AP) - Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin brushed off warnings by a top Israeli official that he is "marked for death" and, in a defiant appearance Friday at a Gaza City mosque, said his Islamic militant group will continue to attack Israelis.

The exchange of threats following a deadly Hamas bombing earlier this week moved a cease-fire - the starting point for a U.S.-backed peace plan - further out of reach.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, is considering changes in the route of a separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank, to cut costs and reduce Palestinian suffering, Israeli TV reports said Friday. Sharon aides are to present the proposed changes to U.S. officials next week, the reports said. Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin declined comment.

The world court in The Hague, Netherlands, is to hear arguments next month from Israel and the Palestinians on the legality of the barrier, and both sides have hired high-profile legal advisers and public relations experts to present their case. Israel says it needs the barrier to keep out Palestinian attackers. The Palestinians say the divider, which at times digs deep into the West Bank and disrupts the lives of thousands of Palestinians, amounts to a land grab.

In an interview on Israel TV's Channel One, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom made no reference to a possible change in the route, but said the project would be discussed at Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting. Shalom defended the current route, saying it was chosen on security grounds and that it could always be moved in the event of a peace deal.

Israeli security officials, meanwhile, said targeted killings of senior Hamas members would likely resume after Wednesday's bombing killed four Israeli border guards at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel. Pinpointed Israeli strikes against Palestinian militants have triggered revenge bombings in the past.

Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim initially named Yassin as a target - the first time an Israeli official was this specific - but later said high-level Defense Ministry discussions on a response to the bombing did not include a decision to kill the Hamas founder.

In the summer, Israel unleashed several air strikes against leading Hamas figures, killing one, Ismail Abu Shanab, but missing three others, including Yassin who escaped the bombing of a Gaza City building in September with minor injuries.

In more than three years of fighting, Israel has killed more than 140 suspected militants in targeted attacks, but has refrained from going after the top Palestinian leadership. It has threatened to "remove" Yasser Arafat, suggesting it would either exile or kill the Palestinian leader, but has refrained from doing either, in part because of U.S. opposition.

An Israeli strike against Yassin would likely provoke bloody Hamas attacks and boost support for the group, Arafat's main political rival, said Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi. "If they target Hamas leaders, I don't think anybody can control the (Hamas) military wing," she said.

Israeli security officials said Yassin personally approved Wednesday's bombing and issued a religious ruling allowing women to carry out such attacks. Hamas had recruited a 22-year-old woman for the Erez attack, a first for the fundamentalist group.

In Washington, the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said Israel had a right to defend itself but also should consider the consequences of its actions. He also criticized Hamas and other groups for violent acts.

The European Union said killing Yassin would be "counterproductive to efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East."

"The European Union has spoken on several occasions against the so-called extra-judicial killings of suspected terrorists," EU spokesman Diego Ojeda said in Brussels, Belgium.

Appearing at a Gaza City mosque for Friday noon prayers, part of his weekly routine, Yassin denied he was involved in planning attacks. However, he said that "Israel will pay for its crimes" and that Hamas would continue resisting occupation, a phrase that generally refers to bombing and shootings attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza.

"We do not fear the threat of death," the quadriplegic Yassin, sitting in his wheelchair and wrapped in a brown blanket, told reporters outside the mosque. "We will not bow to pressure and resistance will continue until the occupation is destroyed."

Boim, the deputy defense minister, initially told Israel Army Radio that Yassin "is marked for death" and that "we will eliminate him." However, Boim later clarified that no specific decision had been made on Yassin's fate.

Security officials said killing Yassin would require Sharon's approval. "We never comment on specific cases," said Gissin, the Sharon adviser.

After a spike in violence in the summer, there was a lull in Israeli missile strikes and Palestinian bombings which some attributed to an unspoken agreement between the two sides to lower tensions. However, Israel said it forced a drop in attacks by arresting as many as 30 potential suicide bombers.

Hamas leaders have rebuffed efforts by Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and Egyptian mediators to declare a halt to attacks against Israelis. Yassin reiterated Friday that Hamas would not agree to a cease-fire.

In other developments, several European countries promised to resume high-level contacts with Arafat, whom Israel is trying to isolate at his Ramallah compound, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said after a nine-nation tour of Europe.

Shaath said he won assurances from France, Sweden, Ireland and Britain to send senior envoys, including foreign ministers, to Arafat's compound in coming weeks.

Israel has told foreign envoys who meet with the Palestinian leader they might not be received by Sharon and other Israeli officials. Some foreign diplomats have begun making separate trips to Israel and the Palestinian areas, to avoid embarrassment.

The Czech foreign minister is to hold talks with Arafat on Saturday, the first high-level foreign visitor to Arafat's isolated compound in three months, Palestinian official said.

[OaktonSkins/BushFan]

What's particularly vexing in this story are the following:

1) "The world court in The Hague, Netherlands, is to hear arguments next month from Israel and the Palestinians on the legality of the barrier, and both sides have hired high-profile legal advisers and public relations experts to present their cases."

Why should Israel (or any nation state, for that matter) have to present any justification for anything to The Hague? Please, what a horrible joke. Israel, I suppose, is just playing PR with this move. Otherwise, I'm sure they would like to tell the "World Court" to shove it up their ass*s.

2) I am just beside myself that the media, both national and international, aren't more critical of these various Palestinian groups. Imagine if Sharon came out and stated that he would simply kill Palestinians in a wholesale fashion. Unreal. Sharon should move forward and take the little Hamas **** out.

2)

[Sarge]

If he was hiding in front of or inside a mosque, as seems to be the MO of most brave muslim warriors nowdays, a few helicopter gunships could have taken care of the problem.

[Chief skin]

The Hammas terrorists hide behind women and children, just a bunch of cowards. The Israelis should not even bother dealing with the Hague, are they willing to place there security in the hands of the flaming heart liberals in the Hague, what nonsense.