Word: yassin
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...wait for the Palestinian political map to change. The trouble is, to prove he is not pulling out because of pressure from militant Palestinian groups like Hamas, Sharon has taken steps that may only fuel the conflict, most notably his approving the assassination last month of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas. And last week Sharon warned that Arafat had "no insurance policy" against possible expulsion or assassination by Israeli forces...
...time being, the strike against Yassin has pushed these matters 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...
...just volunteer to join al-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...
...security. Apart from a few top guns like Ishtawi, who was an overall operations commander and liaison to West Bank Hamas groups, cell members know nothing about units outside their own. In Gaza, when a cell is decapitated, fresh leaders are ready to spring into place. "Even if Sheik Yassin got killed," a Hamas activist told me last month, "Hamas is a big organization now and even he can be replaced. When a leader is killed, it makes us all tougher and ready to pass the torch to fresh fighters." Brigadier General Yossi Kupperwasser, head of research and intelligence...
...That association is far from coincidental - Moqtada has sought to stir up Shiite passions by likening the plight of Iraqis under occupation to that of the Palestinians, and he recently vowed to cooperate with Hamas and Hezbollah in avenging the death of the assassinated Gaza Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin...