GAZA, 27 March 2004 — Palestinians yesterday denounced a US veto of a UN condemnation of Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Palestinian leaders said the US veto of the UN Security Council resolution on Thursday amounted to granting Israel a license to kill Palestinians.
“I’m afraid this US veto will be taken by Israel as encouragement to continue on the path of violence and escalation, assassinations and reoccupation (of Palestinian territory),” Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said.
Hamas political leader Mohammad Ghazal, calling the United States the “chairman of the axis of evil in the world”, said the veto was “Israel’s green light to carry out assaults and crimes.”
Washington, alone among major powers in not condemning Monday’s assassination as an extrajudicial killing, rejected the resolution because it did not also denounce Hamas for bombings in Israel. The vote was 11 in favor, three abstentions, and the US veto that killed the measure.
“Israel’s action has escalated tensions in Gaza and the region, and could set back our effort to resume progress toward peace,” US Ambassador John Negroponte said in a statement.
But he added: “This Security Council does nothing to contribute to a peaceful settlement when it condemns one party’s actions and turns a blind eye to everything else occurring in the region.”
An Israeli government official welcomed the US veto but expressed disappointment at the proposed resolution.
“We are troubled by this cynical attempt to condemn those who are fighting terrorism without denouncing the terrorists themselves,” he said.
Some 10,000 people demonstrated in the West Bank to protest Yassin’s killing.
Worshipers at Friday prayers in the Gaza mosque where Yassin had prayed minutes before his assassination wept and demanded revenge as they looked upon the empty spot where the 67-year-old cleric used to sit in his wheelchair.
Israel has vowed to kill more activists. Ali Al-Barghouti, a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades said: “If we don’t take revenge, Sharon will go even further in his aggression until he assassinates the president.”
On Thursday Israeli security sources said there was no immediate plan to kill Arafat, and Internal Security Minister Tsahi Hanegbi said Israel did not consider him a target.
Israeli forces said they killed two armed Palestinians in wetsuits and flippers who emerged from the Mediterranean and fired toward a beachfront Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. A third man, who was injured, fled. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack on the Tel Katifa settlement.
In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian protester.
In the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, a Palestinian was killed when a car he was driving exploded. Palestinian security officers said the car carried explosives that apparently blew up prematurely. The driver was identified as Ahmed Al-Abed of the Al- Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
