Middle East

Viewpoints

The International Press on Rantisi's Assassination

Comment and analysis from London, Mexico City, Frankfurt, Islamabad, Moscow, Istanbul, Prague, Budapest, and Jerusalem, April 26, 2004

A university student holds up a picture of late Hamas leader Rantisi(L)and late spiritual leader Yassin during a demonstration in Damascus, April 26, 2004 (Photo: Louai Beshara/AFP-Getty Images).
London The Independent (liberal), Apr. 19: If anyone doubted Israel's determination to impose its own order on Palestine, its assassination of the new Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a month after the killing of his predecessor, should have made it abundantly clear....The U.S. alone declined to criticize Israel's action, but Downing Street's silence--leaving Jack Straw to issue the usual disapproval--gave an unequivocal signal. After the assassination of Sheik Yassin, Britain abstained on a UN resolution criticizing Israel. It would send a powerful sign that international law must be upheld if, when a repeat resolution is proposed this week, Britain and other European countries were to offer their support.

Mexico City El Universal (conservative), Apr. 18: Those who look for peace will have to act politically to remove the extremists from power and break the unending chain of reprisals, which could result in much more deadly attacks. The only way to stop escalation of this type is to adopt a policy of not making reprisals for each isolated incident, which has been shown to radically lower a confrontational climate....Only one point impeded reaching peace and that was the status of Jerusalem. It’s necessary to return to these talks because the only way out of these terrible problems of insecurity and terrorism in the Middle East is by ending the conflict in Palestine.

Frankfurt Frankfurter Allgemeine (conservative), Apr. 18: One result of Rantisi's liquidation will be that the names of his successors will remain secret. They will plan more terror attacks from the underground. They will be more difficult to identify than Sheik Yassin or Rantisi....After Sharon's planned withdraw, Gaza will become Hamas land directed from a hidden leadership, which is what Sharon wanted to avert. It is difficult to conceive that Egypt, an area of mounting social problems and hatred, could play a pacifying role in this process. It is also hard to imagine that Rantisi's targeted killing won't be avenged. It might not happen in Israel itself. There are enough "suitable" places in the West and Asia, where they could attack. Some of the recent violence in Iraq was explicitly linked to the liquidation of Sheik Yassin....Above all, the American President unnecessarily and against the openness of the Middle East peace process, the road map, accepted these facts--keeping the large settlements for all eternity. To Palestinians and Arabs this is an unbearable establishment of an illegal possession of land.
—Wolfgang Guenter

Islamabad Al-Akhbar (Urdu-language daily), Apr. 20: Whether there is a Republican administration in the U.S. or a Democrat, some realities of global politics never change--the U.S. does not have any independent idea or policies to pursue; it remains a total slave of the Zionist interests....The martyrdom of Ahmad Yassin and Rantisi have brought Bush and Sharon to the court of history, which is set up for those who commit atrocious crimes against humanity.

Moscow Izvestiya (centrist), Apr. 19: There is often no alternative to pinpoint strikes in fighting Rantisi, Basayev, Bin Laden, Yandarbiyev, Mullah Omar and their ilk. The civilized world is waging a war on terror. Neither we nor the Israelis nor the Americans started this war. We have had to defend ourselves. You don't fight a war in a "white dinner jacket and kid gloves" and, once drawn into a fight, you can't do without pinpoint strikes or out-of-court executions. We wish we could take Shamil Basayev alive and bring him to trial. But with Basayev, just like with Bin Laden, the finale will most likely be out-of-court.

Istanbul Turcuman (centrist), Apr. 21: Israel is pursuing an extermination strategy against Hamas. However, the real intention is to provoke Hamas into fanatical actions that will expose to the international community the viciousness of Palestinians and will also give Israel a pretext to retaliate.... Hamas has remained silent thus far.... The EU has not approved the occupation of Iraq by the U.S. President Bush would like to end the foreign policy isolation the U.S. has been facing after the war with Iraq.... The upcoming presidential election in the U.S. is a determining factor as well. Bush, who is being challenged seriously by Kerry, feels obliged to play for the Jewish vote.
—Mim Kemal Oke

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Prague Pravo (left-wing), Apr. 20: If the U.S. killed Osama bin Laden, would it be a terrorist act done by a state, or an act of prevention within the war on terrorism? Was the killing of Reinard Heydrich also state terrorism, or was it an act of self-defense from a man who openly said the Czechs have no right to live in this part of Europe? The Israeli army killed the second Hamas leader, Rantisi, a man who--just like his predecessor Yassin--claimed that Israel should be destroyed. Europe has deplored the act, but the U.S. has accepted it. Who is right? In the wars of 1967 and 1973, Israel was fighting for its life. The then-Palestinian leader Shukeiri said: “The Jews who will survive may stay. However, I don’t expect any to survive.” It is tempting to say that whatever the Israelis do in their defense, they do it right. Israel will withdraw from Gaza, but it will keep some settlements in the proposed Palestinian territory. Can you do what you deny the others? Is not the Israeli government also helping to power the carousel of bloodshed?
—Jiri Hanak

Budapest Magyar Hirlap (independent), Apr. 19: It is not a nice thing to hunt people with a missile. As a matter of fact, hunting people is, in general, an absolutely awful and unacceptable thing. But the Middle East can't be listed among the so-called normal regions of the world. And the Hamas leader's liquidation has to "be placed" into this [irregular] part of the world. Rantisi was, though, a terrorist. He was a terrorist similar to the other terrorists responsible for 9/11, Madrid or Bali. He was threatening with a bloodbath after the murder of Sheik Yassin. If we look at Rantisi's death from the said point of view and if we also consider the objective fact that it was practically impossible to capture him, then his assassination can even be interpreted as [Israel's] self-defense. And anybody can still condemn Sharon's methods, while it should not be forgotten that this is the game of two sides. They both have set human lives as stake.

Jerusalem Jerusalem Post (conservative), Apr. 19: Will the British foreign minister explain why the killing of Uday and Qusay Hussein was justified and "productive," but the killing of Abdel Aziz Rantisi was not? All three are, or were, leaders of what the British government defines as terrorist organizations....To follow the minister's pronouncements to their logical conclusion, Israel may take no measure in its self-defense except to arrest suicide bombers when they reach Israeli soil, which is as good as no defense at all. Alternatively, he believes Israel must resume negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, notwithstanding the failure of the PA to take steps against terrorist organizations and the evidence that it is deeply implicated in terrorist activity.




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