Amidst calls of vengeance that swept Arab streets, Hamas leader spoke words of reason to Sherine Bahaa The assassination of Hamas leader Abdul- Aziz Al-Rantisi ticked off the second name on the list Israel refers to as "ticking time bombs". Al-Rantisi was killed in a missile strike less than a month after his predecessor, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Two days after US President George W Bush's backing for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement plan" Al-Rantisi's killing makes it clear that Israel is bent on imposing a unilateral settlement to the conflict. Bush's statements effectively rendered hopes pinned on the final status talks redundant. Damascus-based Hamas leader told Al-Ahram Weekly he had refused to indulge in threats of vengeance. "Our reaction should not be measured in this manner, as this would be undermining our cause." He added that the response to Yassin's assassination was the responsibility of the movement's military wing, which faces "logistical difficulties" in carrying out any retaliation. "Our response to the assassination of Yahia Ayash [a Hamas bomb-maker killed in 1996] came 60 days after his murder," he said. "The assassination of our leaders is a clear indication of the inability of the occupation forces to confront the strategy of our resistance," Meshaal told the Weekly after attending a Damascus ceremony commemorating Al-Rantisi. Meshaal, who high-ranking Israeli officials have announced is at the top of their most wanted list, was slightly injured in an earlier assassination attempt in Amman, Jordan in 1997. According to Meshaal, Israel's recent emphasis on extrajudicial killings is part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's long-term policy of liquidating the Palestinian leadership in the Gaza Strip. "It is a face-saving formula for the Israeli army to claim to emerge from Gaza victorious after its defeat in Lebanon. It also serves as propaganda for Israeli military and technological supremacy. But if the spate of assassinations singling out Hamas from other Palestinian factions is an attempt by Sharon to confine the struggle to one between Israel and Hamas it is a policy that is failing. The masses of people who came to Al-Rantisi's funeral showed that the Palestinian people stand united." Meshaal argued that Israel misunderstands the essence of resistance, wrongly believing it is dependent on organised leadership. In fact "it is a spirit that pervades among our people with their different factions. In short, the fall of our leaders strengthens our movement rather than weakens it." Discussing the Israeli assassinations, Meshaal said: "Terrorism and violence has always been the declared policy of the Zionist state, and what Sharon is doing is an extension of what has been the case since the establishment of that state." Hamas's strategy, meanwhile, relies on internal measures as well as more broadly cultivating Palestinian unity. "We are exerting our utmost to ensure the safety of our members and secrecy of our actions, and one of our measures is to keep the name of our new leader in Gaza unknown." Another important security measure is aimed at uncovering informants and collaborators, especially problematic since the Oslo Accords. Meshaal rejected calls for political solutions, saying that they have been exhausted and are unthinkable at the present time. "The masses in the Arab streets provide a better answer than those Arab leaders still clinging to this outmoded thinking. Those leaders are misleading the international community into believing in something that no longer exists. "Negotiations, politics, they have proved futile for our cause. They have led to the squandering of our national rights through concessions and compromises in one deal after another," he said. Whether at the negotiating table or on the battlefield US interference has consistently tipped the balance in favour of Israel, according to Meshaal. "It is a major battle and our enemy is not only Israel but the US. To go into this battle we have to find a partner to stand by the Palestinians. This requires the involvement of all Arabs and Muslims. We all know, after all, that the Israeli-American project targets not just the Palestinians but regimes and peoples across the Arab and Muslim world." The only way out, Meshaal argued, is for Arab leaders to be more responsive to their citizens. He appealed to Arab leaders to strengthen ties with their own people, arguing that such a strategy would not be a threat to Arab regimes but would improve their chances of survival in the long run. "The Zionist and US project does not want powerful Arab countries in the region -- they do not want Egypt, Syria or Saudi Arabia, they want puppets under US and Israeli hegemony." While Palestinians of all political affiliations have been calling for a unified Palestinian leadership, controversy over the details has impeded practical progress. Meshaal said that Palestinian political forces need to work together on a unified political agenda and a more effective means to challenge the occupation now more than ever before. "This is not the responsibility of any single faction. It should be done through securing an overall Palestinian consensus. The Palestinian Authority is being weakened [by Sharon] more and more every day, leaving a marginalised, fragile structure." Meshaal stated that the US and Israel are trying to stifle all independent political organisations in the Palestinian territories. "Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation and so is Jihad, Fatah, Al- Aqsa Brigades. Even Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who entered into various agreements with Israel, is regarded as a terrorist and confined to his house in Ramallah," he said, stressing that the US- Israeli plan is to eliminate all leaders except for hand-picked collaborators. Such a leadership, Meshaal argued, would never have legitimacy with the Palestinian people who remain very much aware of Israeli attempts to impose a puppet regime. In the context of an increasingly violent situation and with the failure of the international community to protect Palestinian rights, Meshaal warned that "the path of peace has come to an end".
