Headlines

MIDEAST: Diplomatic and Military Blows Shake Palestinians

Ferry Biedermann

JERUSALEM, Apr 17 2004 (IPS) - Politics and violence got all tangled up once again in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this weekend.

Politics and violence got all tangled up once again in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this weekend.

The Israeli military killed the newly appointed local leader of Hamas, Abdel-Aziz Rantisi in Gaza City Saturday night just three weeks after killing the movement’s founder and leader Ahmed Yassin.

The attack came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived back in Israel after securing far-reaching assurances and support from President George W. Bush in Washington. Bush changed long-standing U.S. policy by recognising officially that Israel will hold on to some West Bank settlements and that Palestinian refugees will not return to the Jewish state.

The statements came as part of Bush’s support for Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank in the so-called disengagement plan.

Palestinian leaders, furious over the killing of Rantisi, accused Bush of encouraging Israel with his statements in Washington.

“The Palestinian cabinet considers this terrorist Israeli campaign is a direct result of American encouragement and the complete bias of the American administration towards the Israeli government,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said in a statement after the death of Rantisi.

Palestinian political analyst and government minister Ghassan Khattib said Sharon “will do something every time to disturb the quiet.”

The killing of Rantisi comes some three weeks after Israeli missiles struck the Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Hamas swore revenge for that attack and it has repeated that vow after the death of Rantisi.

“This blood will not be wasted,” a senior Hamas member at the hospital in Gaza city where Rantisi was pronounced dead was quoted as saying by Israel’s Ha’aretz daily. “It is our fate in Hamas and it is our fate as Palestinians to die as martyrs. The battle will not weaken our determination or break our will.”

Rantisi was co-founder with Yassin of the militant Palestinian movement that has its roots in the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. He was known as a proponent of the most radical views in Hamas, at times opposing cease-fires and vowing more suicide attacks.

Even though he was known mostly as a spokesman for the movement and he said he acted only in its political wing, Israel calls him a “mastermind of terror” and holds him responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

“This is weakening one of the most dangerous terrorist organisations, Hamas,” said Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner. “Rantisi was the mastermind responsible for the death of hundreds and hundreds of people in Israel.”

Rantisi’s son and reportedly a bodyguard were also killed in the attack which came just hours after a joint Hamas-Fatah suicide attack on the Erez entry point between Gaza and Israel in which an Israeli soldier was killed.

The Israeli army had previously tried to kill Rantisi in June, and it has vowed to target all Hamas leaders, but Israeli analysts tied the timing of the attack to Sharon’s political agenda aimed at pushing through his disengagement plan.

Sharon will present the plan to the cabinet Sunday. Some of its right-wing members are known to strenuously oppose it. On May 2 the members of his own Likud party will vote on the proposals, which will determine whether Sharon can go ahead with it.

The strong support from President Bush during his Washington visit combined with what Israelis see as the successful attack on Rantisi will immeasurably strengthen Sharon’s hand.

Sharon made it clear in Washington that withdrawal from Gaza will not mean that Israel will stop fighting terror in the strip. Many of his right-wing supporters were afraid of just that. The attack on Rantisi may set their minds at ease.

Palestinian analyst Adel Darwish suggested another possible reason for the Israelis to have stepped up attacks on militants in Gaza since the withdrawal plan was announced.

Israel does not want Hamas to “claim victory” for having “chased” them out of Gaza, he told BBC in London. Hamas has indeed already made that claim. Darwish said that Israel wanted to make clear Gaza was “not like South Lebanon” where the image was that Israel left “with its tail between its legs.”

The killing of Rantisi may have wider implications for the situation in Gaza, the relations between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), and security in the region.

Hamas had under Rantisi not been able to act on its vows of revenge over the killing of Yassin. The enormous shock in Gaza on seeing him assassinated as well, coming on the heels of the political blow that the Palestinians were dealt in Washington may well change the movement’s war plans again.

After the death of Yassin, the United States was mentioned as a possible target for revenge attacks. Later, this was taken back. Now, after Bush’s statements and the link Palestinian leaders have made between those and the attack on Rantisi, this may change.

Politically, the attack may weaken Hamas in Gaza. Not only Israel but also Egypt, which borders Gaza on the south, and the United States had expressed concern that the militant movement could take over the strip after a future Israeli withdrawal.

The death of Rantisi and the likelihood that his successor will have to operate even more covertly, may make it harder for Hamas to play a major role.

Over the last couple of weeks there had been intense contacts between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. It seemed that for the first time Hamas might join the PA in governing the strip. The movement has until now refused to cooperate with the PA, which is an instrument of the Oslo peace accords, which Hamas rejects.

A Hamas pact with the PA would have been a momentous development. Rantisi himself recently poured cold water on the idea but this was followed by positive reports of further negotiations.