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“Resistance will continue till occupation ends,” Yassin
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By
Mustafa el-Sawwaf, IOL Gaza Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, January 17 (OslamOline.net) - Palestinians Friday, January 16,
spurned Israeli death threats to Hamas spiritual leader, saying a
price would be "paid dearly" for any attempt on Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin's life.
Thousands
of people took to the streets of Gaza Friday to protest against
Israel's deputy defense minister saying the wheel-chaired Yassin was
"marked for death" and "deserved to die".
The
statements appeared to be veiled threats to resume Israel’s
controversial policy of assassinations, raising fears of a fresh cycle
of violence in the already-turbulent area.
"Martyrdom
operations against Israeli targets should continue" until the end
of occupation, read the slogans at the demonstration of more than
15,000 people.
Photos
of Sheikh Yassin and placards in his support were raised high among
the seething protestors shouting against Israel's almost-daily
incursions into occupied areas.
Another
5,000 people took to the streets of southern Gaza Strip, brushing off
threats to Yassin, who made a defiant appearance at a Gaza City mosque
a few hours after the threats were made.
Appearing
at a Gaza City mosque for Friday noon prayers, part of his weekly
routine, the quadriplegic Hamas leader put up a robust tone.
"Israel
will pay for its crimes and Hamas would continue resisting
occupation", a phrase that generally refers to bombing operations
and shooting attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza.
"We
do not fear the threat of death," sitting in his wheelchair and
wrapped in a brown blanket, Yassin told reporters outside the mosque.
"We
will not bow to pressure and resistance will continue until the
occupation is ended,” he vowed.
'High
Price'
Hamas
military wing, meanwhile, warned in a statement that inflicting harm
on Yassin would drown Israel into a "sea of blood".
"Israel
will pay a high price for any attempt to hurt Sheikh Yassin or any
other Hamas leading figure," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades
warned in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net in Gaza.
The
statement said the threats were "stemming out of (Israeli)
political failure" to repress the Intifada against occupation -
now on for more than three years.
Hamas
and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah, claimed
responsibility for the latest anti-Israeli attack, which the groups
said the operation was in response to the
assassination of a military leader of the Islamic Jihad,
December 25.
And
Sheikh Yassin then said that "resistance will escalate"
against Israel until "it ends occupation of our land and
homeland".
He
already dodged one Israeli attempt to kill him in September. A
warplane dropped a 250-kilogram bomb on a building where he and the
rest of the top Hamas leadership were meeting in a single room, but
Yassin escaped with just a small wound to his hand.
Hamas
and Islamic Jihad declared
in August 2003 an end to a temporary truce after Israeli forces
assassinated Hamas senior political official Ismail Rantissi as part
of a large wave targeting other resistance leaders.
