Don't you dare make anyone feel sorry! Re: FT.com bias article on getting Hamas' Sheik Ahmed Yassin (03-04)

Yassin killing creates new dangers for Israel
Financial Times

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By Harvey Morris
Published: March 22 2004 20:52 | Last Updated: March 22 2004 20:52

Israel's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas leader, was the
latest and most dramatic escalation in a wave of violence that has gripped
the Gaza Strip since Ariel Sharon announced he planned to withdraw from the
territory.

The Israeli prime minister has been under fire from rightwingers for
proposing a unilateral move that they say amounts to a reward to terrorism.
Military chiefs have warned that a withdrawal that looked like a retreat
under fire would only strengthen the hand of the militants.

Yassin and other Hamas leaders fuelled the controversy by claiming a
withdrawal would confirm Israel's defeat by Palestinian militants.

Within hours of the Hamas leader's death on Monday, there were signs that
the Israeli prime minister might, at least in the short term, have spiked
his critics' guns.

Shas, an opposition religious party, withdrew a no-confidence motion - one
of five before the Knesset yesterday - that would have censured Mr Sharon
for failing to disclose details of his so far undefined withdrawal plan. It
cited security concerns following the assassination.

The motion had not threatened the survival of the ruling coalition but a
parliamentary defeat would have weakened Mr Sharon as he prepares to take
his Gaza plan to Washington next month.

Whatever short-term political gain Mr Sharon may have achieved, supporters
and opponents alike agreed that the death of Yassin would fuel Hamas
violence.

Benjamin Natanyahu, Israeli finance minister, acknowledged there was a risk
of a harsh response from Hamas but "in the long term the effect will be to
rein in Hamas and the rest of the terror organisations".

But, as Hamas leaders declared an "open war" on Israel, analysts and
leftwing politicians warned that the removal of the pragmatic Yassin could
have perilous consequences.

"This is very, very dangerous for us," said Yossi Beilin, a former peace
negotiator. "We are talking here about opening a Pandora's box."

Shaul Mishal, a leading Israeli expert on Hamas, forecast a power struggle
within the Islamic movement that could result in a militant "young guard"
cementing links with international groups, such as al-Qaeda, and spreading
their campaign of violence beyond the Middle East.

"There's going to be a serious split between the founder generation and the
young generation, who don't have the dialectic capability of the old
leadership," said Mr Mishal, a Tel Aviv University professor and co-author
of "The Palestinian Hamas".

"There may also be new coalitions between elements of the Palestinian
Authority and Hamas that will decrease the influence of Yassir Arafat and
the Palestine Liberation Organisation," he said.

"I don't subscribe to the view that damaging Hamas helps the Palestinian
Authority," he said.

Mr Mishal said the founder generation - it included Sheikh Yassin, Ismael
Abu Shenab, who was assassinated by Israel last year, and Abdelaziz
Rantissi, the Hamas spokesman - were aware of the movement's limitations.
This was reflected in what he called a campaign of "controlled violence"
against Israel. "Yassin knew he had to establish a balance and create
internal coalitions."

The younger generation was constituted by an informal group of
neighbourhood "street" leaders who had been strengthened during the past
three and a half years of conflict.

"I am concerned at the chaos that this young, inexperienced generation
might create if it gains more power," said Mr Mishal.

The Israeli armed forces on Monday described the targeting of Yassin as "a
significant strike against a central pillar in the Hamas terrorist
organisation". The Hamas leader had made numerous statements praising
suicide bombers and threatening bloody reprisals for Israeli attacks in the
West Bank and Gaza.

In his last public statements before his death, however, he held out the
prospect of a cessation of attacks in the event of an Israeli withdrawal
from Gaza.

"If the Zionist entity completely evacuates the Gaza Strip, we can start a
new phase of calmness in order to discuss the issues of Jerusalem, the West
Bank, the prisoners and the refugees," he said in remarks published on a
Hamas website last week.

He was also quoted this month as saying Hamas would be ready to join the PA
in governing the Gaza Strip once Israel withdrew.

The main focus of Hamas strategy under Yassin was to establish a role
within the mainstream Palestinian leadership at a time when that leadership
was under increasing Israeli and international pressure to crush the
Islamists.