Sheikh Yassin leads Hamas towards moderation
Palestine, People, 1/31/1998

"What takes you down to Gaza?" asked the taxi driver who said the last time he was in there was more than ten years ago. His question did not sound weird to me at all. Since the Palestinian uprising broke out in December 1987 until now, traveling to Gaza had always its limitations and hindrances. First it was the turmoil in the Strip that made driving through the streets a risky adventure, especially for people with Israeli yellow number plates. Their cars were simply easy targets for intifada activists who, without any hesitation, used to pelt them with stones and sometimes with incendiary bottles, better known by their Russian name: Molotov cocktails.

The Israeli soldiers manning the crossing point to Gaza were curious too as to why we were traveling down to Gaza. "I have an interview with Sheikh Ahmad Yassin," I said confidently, feeling the best response is to be as straightforward as possible. I hoped to see what reaction the soldier would have, but he simply buried his face in a list of names of people whose entrance to Gaza was cleared. My name was there. The Israeli army spokesman's office is the only authority that coordinates the entrance of journalists into the Strip.

For most Israelis, Sheikh Yassin is a symbol of terror. They believe he is responsible for almost every suicide attack carried out by Hamas militants over the past two years. He may not have directly sent those suicide bombers but his spiritual influence among them is what counts, Israelis believe.

Outside his modest house in the Zaitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, a huge color portrait covered the wall. Along with graffiti welcoming the Hamas founder, it was painted late last year to welcome the returning leader of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement. Children played outside with old bicycles or softballs. A mechanic was busy repairing a car's engine at his makeshift garage just opposite Sheikh Yassin's house. Signs of the Holy month of Ramadan were seen all over Gaza as restaurants shut their premises during the day, waiting for sunset to break their fast. Children playing in the neighborhood did not have the usual sweets or chewing gum they have at other times of the year. They too are brought up to be good Muslims and are told, from early childhood, to honor all rules of Islam, including fasting in Ramadan.

Seated on his wheelchair, Sheikh Yassin was flanked by three or four aides. One was only in charge of moving his wheelchair and help him drink, eat and read. Sheikh Yassin can only move his head. The rest of his body from the neck downward is entirely paralyzed. Others were doing a sort of secretarial work, including making phone calls on their leader's behalf or taking incoming calls.

Neither guards nor weapons were seen outside the house. Only a man who arrived in an old Renault car was escorted by an armed guard who sat in the front. Nobody was ready to say who that man was. Minutes after the interview was over, a Volkswagen van came to take the Sheikh to a meeting in Gaza. The Palestinian government had offered him a car with a governmental-issued red number plate, usually given to Palestinian officials and VIPs (very important personalities).

Born in 1936 in the village of Al Joura near Ashkelon. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was only four years old when his father died. His elder brother, Shihdeh, looked after him. In 1947, as fighting between Arabs and Jews escalated, the family left to Gaza and lived in what later became the Shati refugee camp. The young Yassin then joined a local school near Shifa Hospital.

In 1952, Ahmad Yassin went with a number of his friends to the seashore to play. In one of his somersault moves, he fell on his head, broke his neck and since then has suffered from a serious paralysis. He was subjected to a series of medical treatments, but all had failed to eliminate his physical impairment. He still managed to move with aid of sticks and continued his studies until he became a teacher. He also gave private lessons in mathematics.

Among his private students was the son of the Egyptian governor of the Gaza Strip, who helped assign him at Al Karmel school in Gaza. In his letter of recommendation, the governor, who too suffered a physical impediment, wrote that Ahmad Yassin "could not be a fitness coach but he can be an excellent teacher in Islamic studies." Yassin later became involved in mosque preaching. During one of his visits to Cairo, he was arrested by the Egyptian authorities who thought he was linked to one of the Islamic groups, namely the Muslim Brotherhood. He denied any connection to the movement but when he returned to Gaza, he had already made up his mind to recruit members to the movement.

After the June 1967 war, Sheikh Yassin became involved in clandestine activities. He was arrested for the first time in 1978 and was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment after he was convicted of weapons smuggling. Those weapons were allegedly used against the Israeli army. In 1985, however, Sheikh Yassin was one of the 1,260 Palestinian prisoners who were released from Israeli jails in the famous prisoner exchange between Israel and Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

Sheikh Yassin was arrested again in 1989. His son, Abdul Hamid, said that Israeli troops cordoned off the area and senior officers broke into their home. One of them, he said, told Sheikh Yassin that they found a Hamas leaflet in his house. The sheikh, added his son, replied that it could be the wind that blew the leaflet into his house that had no ceiling in parts of it or it could be the officer himself who brought it in order to incriminate him. "The officer was furious and his soldiers damaged the furniture and tore pages off the Holy Koran," said the son.

Yassin's health deteriorated in prison. Last year, his life was in real danger. Hoping to keep him as a bargaining chip with Hamas, Israel rejected many requests to have him released, despite worries voiced by senior security officers that his death in prison would not only make a martyr of him but might trigger an uncontrollable wave of violence all over the Occupied Territories as well as within the Palestine National Authority areas.

It was only after Israel's Mossad failed in an attempt on the life of a senior Hamas official in Amman, Jordan, that Sheikh Yassin's release was finally made possible. Khaled Mishal, head of Hamas political bureau, escaped death and became more popular. Sheikh Yassin obtained his freedom and Israel suffered a double setback.

Sheikh Yassin was flown to Jordan after King Hussein demanded his immediate release and left no room for Israel to maneuver. The peace treaty between the two countries was on the verge of total collapse and Israel was forced to meet demands made by the King, who was enraged at seeing the integrity of Jordan violated by agents of Israel's Mossad. Sheikh Yassin stayed in Amman for a few days for medical treatment and then was flown back to Gaza.

On his warm reception back home, Sheikh Yassin said he would never forget those moments when he was reunited with his family and his people. At his house, thousands of people gathered to receive their spiritual leader whose influence goes beyond Hamas recruits and affects a wide sector of the Palestinians, not necessarily out of political identification with his views as much as it is because of his strong personality that brought a historical leader out of a crippled body.

Speaking to the Sheikh reminded me of the first interview I had with him back in 1989, a few weeks before his arrest. Then, he was a hard line tough leader who adamantly rejected all sorts of peace talks with Israel. Today, he accepts the concept of peace, but indirectly. "We offered Israel a truce in return for their full withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and in return for an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem its capital."

Despite the ups and downs in relations between the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, Sheikh Yassin reiterates his commitment and the commitment of the movement not to be drawn into an open confrontation with the Palestinian government. He did not try to hide his hard feelings at the fact that Hamas members are jailed in Palestinian as well as in Israeli prisons but he drew a clear distinction between the Palestinian government and Israel. "We will continue our fight against Israel until all our brethren are released from prison but with the Palestinian government, the only means we have are democratic and nothing but democratic dialogue."

With the present impasse in the peace process, the Palestinian government and Hamas have very little to differ on. Both sides seem to be very careful not to return to the dark days of November 1994 when Palestinian police and Hamas rioters clashed and used fire arms against each other. The changing trend within Hamas towards a compromise with the Palestinian government was illustrated in the words of Sheikh Yassin who said his movement will do the maximum in order to avoid the Algerian or Afghanistan experience in Palestine. "We will not allow similar things to happen here. We need national unity as much as every other sector of the Palestinian people needs it. We are not going to impose our Islamic choice on our people. We respect democracy and we leave it up to our people to decide which form of rule they want," he said. He noted, however, that the crisis in Algeria broke out "only after the military rulers of the country rejected the results of the general election which brought a big victory to the Islamic movement."

Islam, said the sheikh, neither condones killing innocent civilians nor does it approve suicide. He disagrees with those who call Hamas militants suicide bombers. "They defend a cause. They love their life but they prefer their second life in heaven next to God and to the prophets," he said. He added that bomb attacks in market areas dense with Israelis are only "a retaliation to attacks by Israel on our civilians." When the uprising broke out, he explained, Hamas militants used to ambush Israeli troops and never attacked civilians. "Only after a series of massacres were carried out by Israelis against innocent Palestinians that we decided to retaliate using the same means. It is not realistic at all to expect us to watch the Israeli army or the settlers kill our people and we stand put without any response." To end this cycle of violence, Sheikh Yassin suggested a mutual moratorium on attacking civilians but of course without missing the chance to stress that Israel should be the first to declare such a moratorium. He also demanded that all Jewish settlement activities cease in the Occupied Territories.

"We in Islam do not hate the Jews and we do not fight them because they are Jews but because they took over our country, dispersed our people and denied us the right to independence," said the sheikh noting that back in history, when Jews were persecuted in France, they sought refuge in Spain and when, in the days of inquisition, Arabs and Jews alike escaped from Spain to North Africa and lived together in peace. "Only after the Zionist movement came to Palestine and later created its state that conflict started between the two sides," noted the sheikh and said that once the purpose of conflict diminishes, bloodshed can be brought to an end in the region."

Hamas has a structure that separates between its political and military wings. Exposure to the masses is important to Hamas as much as it is for any other grass-roots movement. But exposure would also be risky when a considerable part of the activities carried out by the movement is military and entails killings of civilians somewhere down the road. Therefore, Sheikh Yassin insisted that there isn't any direct relation between the two wings of Hamas and said he never had any contact with members of Izziddin Al Qassam brigades, the name used by the armed wing of Hamas. "We share the same faith and we follow the same guidelines of Islam but our operations and activities are carried out independently."

The sheikh denied allegations by Israel and some western sources that suggested he stands behind all suicide bombing attacks against Israelis. He was very cautious not to openly call for more attacks but said that "any cessation of the attacks cannot be achieved as long as Israel continues its policy against the Palestinian people."

"It is not a Jews-hating situation at all," said the Sheikh. "Our religion even allows us to have marital relations with the Jews. But once they become occupiers, we have to fight them. Even if my brother comes and takes over my house, I will fight him. This land is sacred to all three divine religions and there should be a way for all of us to live peacefully on mutual grounds of peace, justice and equality."

Will this compromising statement fall on listening ears? It is still very premature to suggest but it sounds as if Hamas has already taken the first step towards moderation.

Previous Stories:
  Arafat honors Sheikh Ahmed Yassin   (1/30/1998)
  Hamas chief demands prisoners' release   (11/25/1997)
  Sheikh Yassin: A baby back to his mother's womb   (10/8/1997)

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