Hanniya said the battle with the Israelis "is open and these attempted assassinations against senior Palestinian leaders would be treated well back"

By Mohammad Yassin, Ghassan la-Shami, IOL Palestine Correspondents

GAZA CITY, June 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Palestinian resistance groups said Tuesday, June 10, the failed Israeli attempt against the life of Hamas senior leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi was a "coup de grace" in the heart of the U.S.-driven roadmap for Mideast peace.

They charged that the assassination attempt also aimed at foiling the dialogue between the Palestinian government and the factions to avoid inter-Palestinian fighting, asserting it would strengthen the Palestinian Intifada.

Earlier in the day Rantissi was wounded and underwent surgery on his leg after Israeli helicopters fired several missiles on his car, killing one of his friends and two bystanders, including a five-year-old girl, and wounding up to 27.

"We are fully aware that the Zionist enemy seeks to ignite a civil strife among the Palestinians, but we vow that our resistance would target the Zionist enemy," Ismail Hanniya, a senior Hamas leader, told IslamOnline.net.

"This assassination attempt comes to assert that the Palestinian people have nothing but to resist (the Israeli occupation," he said, noting that the attempt put the Palestinian government to the test before the Palestinian people and history.

Hanniya underlined that Palestinian resistance would gain momentum by this failed attempt, stressing it would never "break the will of Hamas."

'Stillborn'

On the roadmap, the Hamas official said it was "stillborn," noting that the Israelis accepted it as a part of tactical and deceptive move aimed at killing the Intifada and resistance stone dead.

"But these goals, thank Allah, have not been materialized. The enemy has now shot dead the roadmap."

On targeting Israeli political leaders in retaliation to the attack on Rantissi, Hanniya said the battle with the Israelis "is open and these attempted assassinations against senior Palestinian leaders would be treated well back."

He also called on the Palestinian Authority to sever all relations with the Israelis and make it clear that the Intifada and the resistance are the one and only option for the Palestinian people.

'Double-Goal Attack'

For his part, Qadourra Faris, a Fatah leader, told IOL that the failed assassination attempt served as a message to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmmoud Abbas.

"Rantissi's attempted assassination is, in effect, a double-goal attack targeting Rantissi and Abbas and is aimed at destabilizing the Palestinian political landscape, given that Palestinians agreed to act in unison and spare the blood of other Palestinians," he said.

On how the attempt would affect the roadmap, Faris said everything should be kept in perspective away from angry statements to serve the interests of the Palestinian people.

Israel was working without tiring to throw a spanner in the inter-Palestinian dialogue through Rantissi's assassination, he stressed.

Faris cited the assassination of Salah Shehadeh, chief of Hamas' military wing (Ezzudin al-Qassam brigades), as an example on Israeli attempts to stall inter-Palestinian talks.

Resign

Sheikh Abdul Shami, a leader of the Islamic Jihad, called for the resignation of Abbas.

"This heinous Israeli crime is an assassination attempt targeting the roadmap and the political and security platform of Abbas.

"We, therefore, demand Abbas step down particularly after his statement during Jordan's Aqaba summit in which he pledged to end the Palestinian operations against the Israeli targets," Shami said.

He added that Rantissi's attempted assassination would have "domino effects on the entire region," calling on the Palestinian Authority to "give its political approach a second reading.

"After this attack on Rantissi's life, there would be neither truce talks nor a halt of resistance operations," Shami asserted.

Clear Message 

Ramzi Rabah, a member of the Democratic Front For the Liberation Of Palestine (DFLP) politburo, said the assassination attempt served as an abundantly clear message for the Palestinian people and their leadership.

It also, he said, exposes the aggressive Israeli policy, especially after the U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian Aqaba summit, when the U.S. administration and Israel tried to demonstrate that there was an Israeli policy shift.

"But the latest assassination attempt is indicative of the serious Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people and their leaders, which coincides with daily aggression and demolition of houses in the Palestinian cities," Rabah said.

Asked how this attack would affect the truce talks, the DFLP leader reaffirmed the continuation of the Intifada and resistance to end occupation.

Kaied al-Khoul, a member of the Popular Front fro the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) politburo, said the attack on Rantissi reflects "essence of the aggressive Israeli policy against the Palestinian people."

He also called on the Palestinian Authority to draw lessons from the attack.

"Sharon's government does not want a real peace but wants to change political initiatives into security ones to expand its aggression on the Palestinian people and their leaders.

"Israel paid not heed to the conclusions of Aqaba summit although it previously said that it was committed to it," al-Khoul said.

He said he was surprised to hear people talking about the truce while Israel continued its aggression on the Palestinians.

But the PFLP  official asserted that the attack on Rantissi would not affect the dialogue between Abbas and the Palestinian factions, noting it should be resumed to boost national unity.

On Saturday, June 6, five of the main Palestinian resistance factions huddled together in Gaza City to review the latest developments on the Palestinian front, especially in light pledges made by Abbas to end all anti-Israel resistance operations championed by the five groups.