Tuesday’s attempted assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi has placed the curent US-led peace efforts in the Middle East in dire jeopardy, with US President George Bush being ”deeply troubled’ by the attack.
Rantisi, the most high-profile political leader of the Islamic militant group to be targeted by Israel in 32 months of fighting, said he jumped out of his car when he heard the choppers. Rantisi was injured and underwent surgery.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas denounced the helicopter strike as a ”criminal and terrorist” Israeli attack.
The attack came just four days after Hamas broke off talks with him on halting violence. However, some Hamas leaders said on Tuesday, before the strike, they were considering resuming truce talks.
After the helicopter attack Hamas threatened revenge. ”We will continue with our holy war and resistance until every last criminal Zionist is evicted from this land,” Rantisi told the Arab TV satellite station Al Jazeera from his hospital bed.
Abbas accused Israel of trying to destroy the ”road map” plan to get out of its commitments. The prescription for Mideast peace and Palestinian statehood by 2005 was launched by Bush, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a summit in Jordan last week.
Bush has expressed concern, being ”deeply troubled” by the strike and does not think it promotes Israel’s security, the White House said on Tuesday.
”The president is deeply troubled by the strike,” spokesperson Ari Fleischer told reporters. ”The president is concerned the strike will undermine efforts by Palestinian authorities and others to bring an end to terrorist attacks.”
Israeli officials declined comment.
Israel was sending mixed messages with its actions on Tuesday. On the one hand, Israeli troops dismantled 10 tiny uninhabited settlement outposts in the West Bank overnight, in line with the first road map requirements. However, the missile strike threatened to unleash more attacks on Israelis, just as Egypt was trying to persuade Hamas to resume truce talks with Abbas.
Israel has accused Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of trying to undercut Abbas in trying to negotiate a truce. Israel Radio on Tuesday quoted Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying Israel may soon expel Arafat, a step that, according to Israeli reports, has been blocked by the United States until now. Mofaz spoke at a closed-door session of Parliament’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee.
The attack on Rantisi has further weakened Abbas, who has been criticised at home for pledging to end the ”armed intifada” while getting little in return from Israel. Abbas said on Tuesday that he asked the United States to intervene, and said he would continue trying to resume talks with Hamas.
The road map says Israel must refrain from actions that undermine trust, but does not specifically rule out the targeted killings of Palestinian militants. However, Israel indicated after its acceptance of the plan last month that it would from now on reserve the practice of targeted killings to ”ticking bomb” scenarios, as a last means of preventing attacks on Israelis.
Rantisi, a political leader of Hamas and a frequent spokesperson for the group, has been careful to deny all knowledge of the actions of the military wing.
The attack on Rantisi began before noon on Tuesday, when three Israeli Apache helicopter gunships appeared over the skies of Gaza City. In quick succession, they fired seven missiles toward Rantisi’s Jeep Pajero as it was driving in a crowded thoroughfare, near a 16-floor apartment building.
”I opened the door and jumped out immediately,” Rantisi said.
The jeep burst into flames and was reduced to a scorched pile of metal.
A witness, bread vendor Salim Abdullah (23), said the first missile missed Rantisi’s car.
”The doctor [Rantisi] ran from the car. One of the helicopters started firing machine guns at him while he was running. At the time, I was hiding next to a wall. I saw the doctor bleeding,” said Abdullah, who was also injured.
”Rantisi is suffering from torn arteries,” said another Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, a surgeon who operated on Rantisi’s injuries. ”He’s in a stable condition.”
Thousands of Hamas supporters crowded the courtyard outside Shifa Hospital after the missile strike, chanting slogans against Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.
”Abu Mazen, we want resistance,” the crowded shouted. ”We will not give up. We will not co-operate with the Zionists.”
Dozens of Hamas gunmen fired their assault rifles in the air.
Zahar said there would be quick retaliation, adding that ”the Hamas response will be like an earthquake”. When asked whether this would include targeting Israeli politicians, Zahar said: ”An eye for an eye… a politician for a politician.”
Zahar also said that Palestinians ”must throw the road map into the garbage and commit to the map of holy war”.
Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in bombings and shootings in the past 32 months of fighting. On Sunday, Hamas, along with two other militias, killed four Israeli soldiers in a shooting attack at an army outpost in Gaza.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a Palestinian cabinet minister, accused Israel of trying to make it impossible for Abbas to negotiate a cease-fire with Hamas.
”This is an attack against the road map. This is an attack against the efforts of George Bush,” Abed Rabbo said.
Sharon has only reluctantly accepted the three-stage plan, saying he would meet Israel’s obligations under its auspices, but has been evasive about full compliance with the first step — the dismantling of dozens of settlement outposts established in the West Bank since he took office in March 2001.
Overnight, troops pulled down 10 uninhabited outposts, and were to remove five more, including four populated ones, later in the day. Settler leaders said they would try to prevent the removal of outposts, but not use violence against soldiers.
Settler rabbis said in a joint statement on Tuesday that Sharon’s decision to dismantle outposts was a ”crime” and violated Jewish values.
The Gaza missile strike came just hours after Hamas leaders said they were considering resuming truce talks with Abbas. Only four days earlier, Hamas had said it was breaking off contacts with the Palestinian prime minister, accusing him of making too many concessions to Israel.
Egypt has been intensifying pressure on Palestinian militias to halt shooting and bombing attacks on Israelis. The Egyptian intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, who presided over truce talks with Palestinian militias earlier this year, was to have met with Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.
It was not clear whether Suleiman would still make the trip.
Under the Middle East peace plan, Palestinians must disarm and dismantle Palestinian militias. Abbas has said he would not use force against the militias under any circumstances because he wants to avoid civil war. However, at a news conference on Monday, he also issued a veiled threat, telling the groups that those who walk away from truce talks will be responsible for the consequences. – Sapa-AP