wiadomosc_z_zrodel_izraelskich
11.06.03, 15:53
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?
itemNo=302195&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Angry U.S. asks, 'why the attempt on Rantisi?'
By Aluf Benn, Arnon Regular and Natan Guttman
Israel's attack on a Hamas leader could make it
harder for the new Palestinian leadership to
combat terrorism, President George W. Bush said
yesterday. Bush said he was "troubled" by the
Israeli helicopter attack on Abdel Aziz Rantisi in
Gaza. Such incidents don't promote Israel's
security, he said, and may "make it more difficult
for the Palestinian leadership to fight off
terrorist attacks."
"I regret the loss of innocent
life," Bush told reporters in
the Oval Office.
"I am determined to keep the
process on the road to peace,"
Bush said. "And I believe with
responsible leadership by all
parties, we can bring peace to
the region - and I emphasize
all parties must behave responsibly to achieve
that objective."
Earier, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's chief of
staff, Doiv Weisglass, demanding Israel explain
why it was necessary to try to assassinate the
Hamas hardliner.
Israeli intelligence officials and the Prime
Minister's Office were trying to prove to the
Americans that Rantisi was "not a ticking bomb,
but a factory of ticking bombs."
Three people were killed, including a 50-year-old
woman, an eight-year-old girl, and a Rantisi
bodyguard, when five rockets were fired from
helicopters overhead Rantisi's car on a crowded
main street in Gaza City, wounding at least 25
people.
Later, three more Palestinians were killed - and
more than 30 wounded - when a helicopter rocket
hit their truck after they fired Qassam rockets
at Sderot.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas condemned
the Gaza City missile strike, calling the failed
attempt a "terrorist attack ... intended to
obstruct and sabotage the political process,"
Abbas's office said. Abbas called on the U.S. to
intervene immediately to prevent further Israeli
military actions. Sources close to Abbas admitted
he was deeply embarrassed by the attempt on
Rantisi's life after he had spent so much effort
trying to win the confidence of Hamas for a
cease-fire plan that would pave the way for the
road map.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabo,
considered close to Yasser Arafat, called the
attack "an act of terror that bombed the road
map, putting a large exclamation point over the
real intentions of Sharon."
Rantisi, from his hospital bed at Shafi Hospital
in Gaza, called for continuing the "holy war"
until there are no more "criminal Zionists" left
in the country. "We will continue with our holy
war and resistance until every last criminal
Zionist is evicted from this land," Rantisi told
Al Jazeera. A pediatrician and one of the
best-known Hamas spokesmen, Rantisi is the
highest-ranking Palestinian militant to be
targeted in an Israeli assassination attempt.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister
Shaul Mofaz authorized the assassination attempt
on Sunday after the attack on the Erez Junction
army outpost that killed four soldiers,
government and security sources said last night.
The sources said Rantisi's name has come up on
the past as a candidate for assassination, but
the politicians did not authorize it.
A few weeks ago, a decision was made to strike at
Rantisi as well as other Hamas leaders -
including, reportedly, Hamas spiritual patron
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - but the operation against
Rantisi was canceled at the last minute for
political and operational reasons.
After the attack, Rice and U.S. Ambassador Daniel
Kurtzer called the Prime Minister's Office,
asking bureau chief Dov Weisglass if Israel had
backed down from its commitments made at the
Aqaba summit. Israel's ambassador in Washington,
Danny Ayalon, spoke with senior White House
officials about the operation.
White House sources said the attack on Rantisi was
evidence of Israel disregarding U.S. positions
made clear at Aqaba. According to White House
sources, American officials at Aqaba specifically
asked Israeli officials to not to take any
actions that could inflame the Palestinian public
in the coming weeks to give the Abbas government
time to consolidate its hold. Last night, the
administration was regarding the attempted
assassination as a political act, not a security
one, and appeared to be rejecting Israeli
explanations. The fact that Bush reiterated
earlier statements by his spokesman, after Rice
heard from Weisglass, was seen in Washington as
evidence that the administration has not accepted
the Israeli explanations. Bush didn't call Sharon
- but Russian President Vladimir Putin did, to
protest the attack.
The Israeli government's message is that Rantisi
was not a ticking bomb, but "a factory for
ticking bombs," plotting mass terror attacks to
destroy the Aqaba process. "He launched terror
attacks and it is absurd to put him on the
political level. It was obvious the Americans
would not like the operation but even Bush called
the Hamas enemies of peace yesterday. We told Abu
Mazen (Abbas) we will continue to operate against
ticking bombs and foil attacks, as long as the
Palestinian Authority does nothing to stop them,"
said a government source.
Another source said: "Under the circumstances,
action had to be taken to save the Aqaba
process." Israel will present hard intelligence
evidence to the Americans proving Rantisi's
involvement as an initiator and planner of
attacks, the source said. "If only a little of
what he planned took place, we would have had
dozens of casualties and that would have stopped
the process."
A few hours after the IDF rocket attacks, Qassam
rockets were fired from Beit Hanoun at Sderot for
the first time in two weeks. Anticipating such a
reaction to the attack against Rantisi,
helicopters remained in the air over the area,
and one spotted the truck from which the Qassams
were launched, sending rockets into the truck.
That killed another three Palestinians who were
in the truck, and according to Palestinian
sources, wounding some 30 others in the vicinity
who were hit by shrapnel.
The Hamas vowed revenge for the failed attempt on
its number two man's life, saying vengeance would
come "in the near future." Sheikh Yassin said
"Israel continues to strike at us without
distinguishing between civilians and military
people and now every Israeli should know that
they are a target." Other spokesmen called for a
cessation of the dialogue with Abbas, but so far,
no official announcement to that effect has been
issued.
Rantisi, 54, is considered the most extreme
hardliner in the current Hamas leadership and
Israel believes he has stepped into the role of
the overall commander of the military wing of the
Islamic fundamentalist movement. Often arrested -
and then released - by the Palestinian Authority
he is considered the number two in the movement
after Yassin.
He was the leading spokesman for the movement
after the Aqaba summit, rejecting the road map
and vowing on Saturday that Hamas would ignore
Abbas' calls for a cease-fire.
Nonetheless, after a Abbas press conference on
Sunday, he said the organization would examine
the Palestinian prime minister's statements and
appeared to open the way to the resumption of
dialogue toward a cease-fire.
Mahmoud a Zahar, another Hamas spokesman last
night said: "Israelis only understand the
language of force and we say to them an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and political
negotiation for political negotiations."
The attack broke open the fault line of Israeli
politics, with the left lining up against the
timing of the attack and the right backing it
completely. But there were divisions inside the
coalition, with several Shinui MKs slamming t
