Qureia blames U.S. bias; Israel: Rantisi was terror mastermind

Qureia blames U.S. bias; Israel: Rantisi was terror mastermind
Saturday, April 18, 2004
Haaretz
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Saturday said Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi was a "direct result" of encouragement from the United States.
(...)
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath also attributed the decision to assassinate Rantisi on what the Palestinians believe is a forgiving American attitude toward Israel.
"I completely condemn this Israeli crime of cold blooded killing in front of the whole world, while America gives it bits of our land and our refugees' rights. The mercy of God upon Rantisi... Israel commits crimes and is rewarded by the American president. When it commits state terrorism, it gets promises."
"Israel has been given a free hand to continue its policy of destruction, of siege, of assassination," said Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi.
(...)
In its condemnation of the attack, Arab League also said that the killing was "state terrorism."
"This is clear proof that Israel cannot live in a climate of stability," said League spokesman Hossam Zaki. "They do not want a climate of stability. They need a climate of tension and violence."
The British government on Saturday termed the killing illegal and counter-productive.
"The British government has made it repeatedly clear that so-called 'targeted assassinations' of this kind are unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a statement.
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Read the rest here.

Allah bless the second intifada.

What a pitiful use for religion.

...of racist oppression in what was once their own land. Now Israel uses missles to silence old men and to kill innocents in the street. It's time for them to understand that Palestinians are not cattle to be slaughtered at the whim of the Likud. The intifada is their only hope.

How much do you think someone has to suffer before he's willing to strap explosives to hisown body in defense of his nation? How few other options does he have to have left?

Israel has lost all moral justification for extra-judicial assassination, collective punishment, and urinating on the U.N. resolutions that have called for its withdrawal from the occupied territories and the cessation of its oppresssion of Palestinians for 30 years.

Stop trying to legitimize a terrorist group's actions as "resistance" and illegitimize the killing of a terrorist leader during a war. It makes me sick.

All of the Palesinian fighters are by definition partisan resistance. They live in an occupied nation. Think Lexington and Concord, 1775.

...of Sharon or other Likud leaders? It being war and all that....

n/t

It may be legal, but that is a separate matter.

You know what I meant. ;)

Would wanna kill himself?Herself? teenself? Sex aint no good reason for suicide and homocide....

Embezzles.......hire 72 whores....for goodness sake.....

...has been discussed ad nauseum in this forum during the last several years. If you've been blind to it that long, I've no confidence that you'll ever open your eyes.

"As usual, the PA, UN, UK, & Arab League line up to condemn Israel..."

More accurately, the entire world except Bush and Micronesia are lining up to condemn the rogue state of Israel. As usual.

I wonder who's right?

More accurately, the entire world except Bush and Micronesia are lining up to condemn the rogue state of Israel. As usual.
Do you have links that show that every nation in the worlds disapproves of Israel killign terrorist leaders? Or just a few in Europe and the Arab world? You know what, I'll settle for you giving me a link to a leader from Japan, China, India, Mexico, or any African or South American nation condemning Israel.

I wonder who's right?
Logical fallacy: Bandwagon.

"Do you have links that show that every nation in the worlds disapproves of Israel killign terrorist leaders?"

As you probably know, the United Nations continually (for the last 37 years) condemns Israel's criminal, illegal and brutal actions by a vote of about 194 to 4. Micronesia and a few other American clients constitute the 4.

In short, the entire world, except the immoral imbecile Bush, condemns Israel, because Israel is a racist state that refuses to aceknowledge international law.

Surely this isn't news to you.

Most of the world has caught onto this "terrorism" fraud, thanks to Bush.

The charade won't work much longer. Only bombs work for Israel and Bush.

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South Africa has joined a string of international voices in condemning the assassination of Hamas leader Abdelaziz al-Rantissi.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa on Sunday said the government condemned the killing as an act of provocation that would fuel the cycle of violence and counter-violence.

"The assassination of Palestinian leaders and complicit consent to, and endorsement of, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to set on course a unilateral plan of action that most fundamentally affects the rights of the Palestinian people weakens any prospect for a negotiated settlement to this conflict."

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2749&art_id=vn20040419041222282C270385&click_id=2749&set_id=1

IS RIGHT.........

Israel recently assasinated Yassin. Rantisi, no better, replaced him, and a wave of angry sentiment poured through the international community in general and the Arab world in particular. (Israel complains all the time about being alone in the midst of Arab hordes. Perhaps they need to get better PR than assasinating men in wheelchairs, however evil they may have been?) Palestinian sentiment against peace and against Israel increased, therefore fueling popular support for terrorism - what allows the Palestinian terrorists to easily hide themselves among the population.

Now Rantisi has been assasinated, and the same thing will happen again. What has Israel accomplished? If killing Yassin made everything so much better, why kill Rantisi? Perhaps this is the wrong approach towards ending the conflict?

The leaders of the nations of the world may be hypocrites (Blair, for instance, who happily goes along with Bush's slaughter in Iraq but condemns Israel for less) but that doesn't make their criticisms innaccurate or their condemnation undeserved.

Whether you think that this is a good strategy of Israel's is irrelevant to what some of these 'leaders' said. Quotes such as "The mercy of God upon Rantisi" (Qureia) and " state terrorism," (Arab League) seems to imply that what Israel did was not only tactically wrong, but morally wrong.
So, when Jack Straw said that all this did was perpetuate the cycle of violence (or something to that effect) I could see where you agreed with him. But do you agree with the statements above?

because it was an extra-judicial killing for no real gain.

But much done in war is wrong, and it's not like the Arab League's leaders are very benevolent.

because someone was killed needlessly and extra-judicially.

I don't believe in the death penalty, especially not in applying it without conviction, and killing him did not end the threat from Hamas.

This is an armed conflict, otherwise known as a war. Rantissi was a legitimate target for the Israelis. Considered as an act of war, there is no moral issue.

Was it a wise thing to do? I doubt it. Even if all other things are equal, it helps them far less than Sharon would like to think. Even if the Palestinian people didn't give a flying leap about Hamas, they will still resist Israeli occupation and the accompanying injustices of that occupation.

Of course, the Palestinian people feel a threat that is manifest in the attack on Rantissi. Whether the assassination was justified or not, the resolve to resist occupation will be stiffened.

The causes of Palestinian resistance have not been removed. The Israelis can never expect the Palestinians to accept in the Palestinian territories the presence of Jews-only settlements and segregated access roads. As long as Palestinians are being displaced to make way for such projects, there will be resistance. If the Israelis think that by killing whoever becomes the leader of Hamas they will break the resistance to occupation, they are living in a fantasy world.

By removing Hamas leaders, the best the Israelis (and the rest of us) can hope for is the emergence of new leadership among the Palestinians that will embrace more realistic national goals that do not include the destruction of Israel and do not embrace the futile and criminal tactics of attacking civilian targets inside Israel.

and the usual practice of war has much immorality, which is why I generally oppose it.

My point was simply that I have no problem with anyone calling it morally wrong, not that the statement means much of anything.

is he really a terrorist mastermind or just a big mouth ?
is this a good strategy ?
will this have any positve effect ?

Jack Straw sez..unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive..
I agree ..