Israel assassinated top Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, drawing a threat of 100 revenge attacks from the militant Palestinian group rocked by another major blow before a planned U.S.-backed pullout from Gaza.
The helicopter missile strike on Rantissi's car in Gaza City on Saturday stoked Palestinian anger already high over President Bush's statement this week that Israel could retain land Palestinians want for a state in any peace deal.
[And, before that, they were mad about the IDF killing Yassin and before that....ad infinitum.--Jen]
"The Palestinian cabinet considers this terrorist Israeli campaign is a direct result of American encouragement and the complete bias of the American administration toward the Israeli government," Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said.
[But, of course, Al-Reuters is more than happy to carry this quote, too!--j.t.]
The United States denied it gave Israel the green light to go after Rantissi but refrained from condemning the assassination, saying only it was "gravely concerned" for Middle East peace and stability.
Israel said it struck down a "mastermind of terrorism," hours after a suicide bomber blew up at the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, killing an Israeli soldier.
[...]
Many Palestinians viewed Rantissi as particularly hardline in a fundamentalist Islamic group that has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.
"As long as the Palestinian Authority does not lift a finger and fight terrorism, Israel will continue to have to do so itself," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled.
[Israeli Minister Peled just said it all!]
[...]
"Israel has a right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks, but actions of this type are not only unlawful, they are not conducive to lowering tension," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said such killings were "unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive."
[They they go again! These Paleo-loving EUroweenies like Solana and Jack Straw (whom I'll bet got a call from Cheri Blair in the States) keep babbling about "illegal wars" and another country's (particularly Israel's or the U.S.'s) "unlawful" actions when there is no such animal as "international law."]
[...]
Asked once in a television interview if he was afraid for his life, Rantissi said he could die of cancer or a heart attack as easily as from an Israeli Apache helicopter strike.
"I prefer the Apache," he said.
Isn't that nice? He got his last wish.
Now, if only the IDF could make that happen for Arafish soon, very soon...
[Here's a gross picture of the dying Rantisi which I've inserted as an embed because I want you to see the Islamic green jihadi headband they've put on his near-corpse.
