Word: rantisi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...case, the outside world will not take Hamas for anything but an implacable terrorist outfit bent on the elimination of Israel. And publicly, its leaders stick to the group's hard-core aims. With the elevation of Rantisi, the last word among Hamas' decision makers belongs to the most uncompromising firebrand in the leadership...
...aside and returned the focus of Hamas' wrath to its true enemy. Whatever possibilities were percolating of Hamas considering a peaceful solution have been overwhelmed by the movement's declaration of "open war." The Sharon government too is consumed by the idea that might can prevail. When I asked Rantisi, the new leader of Hamas, whether he would accept a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he all but dismissed the notion. "Negotiations," he said, "never achieved anything in favor of the Palestinians." What continues to sustain Hamas are the ever-growing numbers of Palestinians who seem...
...peace, Hamas is going to be successful." And at the moment, Hamas' power is unchallenged. Both Americans and Israelis believe that Arafat's downtrodden Palestinian Authority has the means to dismantle Hamas but not the will, whereas Palestinians believe it has neither. "No one can finish Hamas," says Rantisi. Al-Zahar put it in starker terms: if Arafat tries to crack down again, "we are going to defend ourselves with all means available, including guns." Hamas leaders tell TIME emphatically that they will not allow a fraternal war to engulf Gaza. Said Rantisi: "Hamas has forbidden that from happening...
...expression of human dignity in a situation that seems hopeless. "We show Israel we refuse to accept their occupation lying down," he said. In the creed of Hamas, suicide bombs are the most potent weapon Palestinians can wield against a better-armed enemy. The killings make Israel understand, Rantisi told me last summer, that "force will not defeat the Palestinians. Ever." Palestinians know "we're not winning the war," says Raji Sourani, a human-rights lawyer in Gaza. "But at least we died trying. It's all about not being the 'good victim...
...Qassam, though. Hamas' secrecy seems to enhance its appeal. Only the so-called political wing has a public face. Everyone knew Sheik Yassin as Hamas' founder and spiritual head, the only cleric in the pantheon of Palestinian leaders. They know a few of the other out-front elite, like Rantisi, a pediatrician and Islamic ideologue who had been Hamas' No. 2; al-Zahar, a surgeon who teaches at Gaza's Islamic University and also leans toward the relative hard line; and the much lamented Abu Shanab, who reflected Hamas' more moderate side. Everyone is aware of Musa Abu Marzook...