Israeli threats to assassinate Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leave Hamas leaders unimpressed. Khaled Amayreh reports from the West Bank After a series of bloody incursions by the Israeli occupation forces into Palestinian population centres had left scores of Palestinians dead and injured, Hamas retaliated on 14 January by carrying out its first suicide bombing in more than two months. In response to the attack, which killed three soldiers and a security guard, Israel threatened to assassinate Hamas leader and founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The target was an Israeli army installation at the Erez border crossing in northern Gaza, Gaza's main outlet to the outside world. The bomber was a 22-year-old woman named Reem Rayashi, a mother of two. She became the seventh Palestinian female suicide bomber, but the first one sponsored by Hamas since the phenomenon of suicide bombing was introduced to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 1994. After successfully eluding detection, Rayashi detonated her explosives in the midst of Israeli soldiers, leaving three of them and a private security guard dead. Seven other people, including four Palestinians, were injured. Soon after the incident, Hamas and Fatah jointly declared responsibility for the bombing, arguing that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his ideological brethren understood only the language of force. "Israel is waging a war of annihilation, a Holocaust against our people, and we have to defend ourselves," said Yassin. The 65-year-old paraplegic leader told reporters that Palestinians were forced "to choose between annihilation and defending ourselves". "We see that the world is just watching passively while Israel is slaughtering us and demolishing our homes. Hence, we have no choice but to defend ourselves," Yassin added. He lambasted critics who blamed Hamas for "sacrificing a woman", citing an Islamic theological maxim that whenever Muslim land is invaded by the infidels, jihad in self-defence becomes obligatory for all Muslims. Israel predictably described the bombing as "an abominable act of terror" notwithstanding the fact that it targeted soldiers, rather than innocent civilians. Moreover, Israeli leaders, including high-ranking military commanders, blamed Yassin personally for "dispatching the bomber", and threatened to assassinate him. Yassin, who was lightly injured in an Israeli assassination attempt on 6 September, appeared unshaken by the threat. He told reporters in Gaza on 16 January, shortly after attending Friday's congregational prayer, that Israeli leaders "think that every problem can be resolved with violence and that they could scare us. We are under occupation, and we demand freedom. Give us our freedom and rights and we will stop." Surprisingly, even the Palestinian Authority (PA) refused to condemn the Erez operation, apparently because soldiers rather than civilians were the target. PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei blamed "the Israeli policy of murder and home demolitions for Palestinian violence against Israel," adding "The Israelis should understand that violence begets violence." In what could be read as an implicit condoning of the attack, Qurei said "let us not forget that in this operation military, not civilian, targets were attacked." According to Hamas insiders, the movement did take a decision a few months ago to refrain from attacking Israeli civilian targets. The decision reportedly stemmed from "cool-headed calculations" that bombing attacks on Israeli restaurants, markets and buses, with their graphic, gruesome images seen around the world, were politically too damaging to the Palestinians' international image. The unannounced and informal decision to that effect seemed to have been made possible by the efforts of Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman and his aides who met with Hamas leaders in Gaza and Cairo several times last year. This is not to say though that Hamas will never revert to targeting Israeli civilians. Hamas's hawkish spokesman in Gaza, Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantisi, hinted that the movement wouldn't hesitate to target Israeli civilians if Israeli forces stepped up the killing of Palestinian civilians. "The Zionists must understand that they can't keep killing our civilians with impunity. Their children's blood is not more precious than our children's blood." The Erez bombing seems to suggest a certain realisation on Hamas's part that a cease-fire with Israel was not forthcoming in the near future. During the Egyptian-mediated interfactional talks in Cairo three weeks ago, Hamas reportedly showed a willingness to reach a cease-fire with Israel, with one condition attached, that of reciprocity. However, since neither Egypt nor the United States were able to obtain from Israel a commitment to halt attacks on Palestinians, the Cairo talks ended indecisively, with Hamas agreeing informally to avoid attacks on Israeli civilians. Hamas's insistence on "Israeli reciprocity" may have prompted some American diplomats to propose to Hamas, either directly or through a third party, to convince Israel to cease targeting the movement's leader in return for a unilateral cease-fire by Hamas. Hamas, according to Al-Rantisi, who made the revelation following the Erez attack, dismissed the offer outright, describing it as an "invitation to capitulation". "There is no difference between the leaders and the people. Our blood and our lives are not more important than the blood and lives of ordinary people," Al-Rantisi emphasised, adding "And even if I was killed, or Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the resistance will continue." In the meantime, the Palestinians are increasingly finding themselves beleaguered by the rapid construction of the gigantic separation wall Israel is building deep into the West Bank. The wall has already ghettoised several Palestinian towns in the northern West Bank, including Qalqilya, which is completely encircled by the wall, with a lone six-metre-wide gate to the outside world. Needless to say, the gate itself is tightly controlled by Israeli soldiers who decide who will be allowed in and out of "the big prison". In East Jerusalem, the wall is cutting through Palestinian neighbourhoods in Abu Dis, bringing unprecedented disruption to the daily lives of thousands of Palestinian families on both sides. Now, with the wall closing in on the remaining Palestinian towns and villages, the only glimmer of hope the Palestinians cling to is the impending review of the wall by the International Court at the Hague. Palestinians hope the court will rule the wall to be illegal and consequently help gather meaningful international pressure against Israel to remove the wall altogether, or at least alter its present course closer to the internationally recognised border between Israel proper and the West Bank.
