Hamas appoints a new leader for it, in secret; The Palestinians eulogize al-Ranteisi, Sharon commends his assassination
Palestine, Politics, 4/19/2004

Hundreds thousands of Palestinians yesterday held a funeral for the leader of the leader of the Islamic resistance movement ( Hamas) Abdul Aziz al-Ranteisi, who was assassinated by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza on Saturday evening.

The funeral procession took the streets as from al-Shefaa hospital -- where al-Ranteisi body was laid for one night -- through the main al-Wahda street in Gaza towards his house in Sheikh Redwan area to the north of the city.

The crowded masses of the Palestinians chanted slogans condemning Israel and the American support for it. Thousands of men and women and hundreds of fighters of Ezz Eddin al-Qassam group ( the military wing of Hamas ) called for revenge over the assassination of al-Ranteisi.

The body procession headed towards al-Shuhadaa ( martyrs) cemetery in Sheikh Redwan area where the founder of the Hamas movement Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was buried, assassinated by Israel on March 22nd.

Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement called on its members to strike Israel wherever their hands reach. It said in a statement that the assassination of al-Ranteisi "opens the doors of hell" on Israel.

Hamas movement vowed to revenge for ( one hundred times) for the assassination of its leader. It said it has the right to revenge the same way, stressing that the assassination operation will not weaken it. The leading figure in the movement Ismael Henya said Israel will redeem and that the blood of al-Rantesisi will not go wasted.

Hamas movement announced in a statement that it had appointed a new leader for it in Gaza in succession for Abdul Aziz al-Ranteisi and the movement decided not to disclose the name of the new leader in response to the call made by the chairman of the movement's political office Khaled Mashaal, for security reasons.

The demised al-Ranteisi used to consider himself as vulnerable to assassination at any moment. He said in exclusive statements to al-Jazeera TV before his assassination that he desires "martyrdom." The Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon commended, in his first reaction to the crime, what he had described the successful operation of al-Ranteisi assassination.

He said at the beginning of the weekly meeting of the Israeli government that he will proceed forward to implementing the disengagement plan and withdrawal from Gaza in parallel with the continued work to fighting what he had described as terrorism.

For his part, the Israeli minister for relations with the parliament, Jedou Ezra, threatened that the fate of the chairman of the political bureau of the Hamas movement Khaled Mashaal, who lives in Damascus -- when opportunity avails -- will be similar to the fate of al-Ranteisi who was assassinated by Israel on Saturday in an air raid.

The Israeli minister said that the operations of liquidating leaders of the Palestinian resistance will continue. The Israeli ambassador in Washington Dani Eyalon said that attacking Hamas falls in the course of " legitimate defense policy that serves the interest of all in preparations for our evacuation from Gaza." The Israeli government announced top state of alert in lines of its security forces and reinforced the deployment of the security forces in population crowded areas in precaution of a Palestinian reaction to the Israeli crime.

The Palestinian authority held the US responsible for the new Israeli crime. The Palestinian prime minister Ahmad Qurei' said that the assassination of al-Ranteisi is a direct result for the American encouragement of Israel and the full bias by the George W. Bush administration for the Israeli government.

In a statement, the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat described al-Rantesi as a brave leader and said that the crimes of the Israeli occupation will make the Palestinians more determined.

Previous Stories:
  American justifications on Bush statements concerning the Palestinians; One Palestinian was killed   (4/17/2004)
  Quartet meets to discuss Sharon plan   (4/17/2004)
  Islamic countries to hold emergency session on middle east   (4/16/2004)

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