GAZA CITY, 29 March 2004 — The new Hamas leader in Gaza yesterday called US President George W. Bush an enemy of Islam and said that “God declared war” against Bush, the United States and Israel.
The Hamas chief, Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi, renewed threats to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassination of the group’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, last week. Rantissi stopped short of saying the group would strike against US targets.
The political chief of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has called on Arab leaders to cut all ties with Israel following the assassination. Speaking Saturday night, Meshaal urged them to “cut relations with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other enemy leaders.”
Meshaal repeated vows by Hamas, which has helped spearhead the Palestinian uprising and is known for its bloody attacks, to avenge Yassin’s death.
Last week, after the killing of Yassin, the Hamas military wing made veiled threats against the United States, but leaders of the groups later backed off. Rantissi himself said last week that Hamas’ conflict is with Israel and that the group has no intention of opening a new front abroad.
Addressing a Hamas rally at Gaza City’s Islamic University, Rantissi launched a verbal attack on Bush, saying it came as no surprise that the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the killing of Yassin.
“We knew that Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam and Muslims. America declared war against God. Sharon declared war against God and God declared war against America, Bush and (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon,” Rantissi told the crowd.
“The war of God continues against them and I can see the victory coming up from the land of Palestine by the hand of Hamas,” he added. Israel is taking the Hamas threats seriously, including statements that Sharon and other Israeli officials are legitimate targets. Israeli security services have increased security and assigned armored Cadillacs to several Cabinet ministers, one minister said.
The minister refused to say how many armored cars were provided, but said Likud Party hard-liner, Gideon Ezra, was among those who received one.
In the past, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a former prime minister, used an armored car on occasion. The only government officials who regularly drive in armored cars are Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
Since Yassin’s assassination, Israel has tightened security measures. Israeli border patrol, troops and police have been sent into the streets, setting up roadblocks and checking IDs randomly. Cafes, buses and malls emptied out for several days as Israelis braced for retaliation.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry increased security at embassies, consulates and missions abroad following the assassination.
A Palestinian was shot dead on the roof of his home near the southern West Bank city of Hebron yesterday after Israeli forces mistook his broom for a weapon, Palestinian sources said. A military spokesman said that soldiers who had come to arrest Jamil Al-Tal first surrounded his home in the Dahariyeh area and then opened fire on an individual who was on the roof, killing him. Tal was a member of an armed group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s movement, the spokesman said.
False documents and magazines of ammunition were found during a search of house, the spokesman added.
Army radio said that he had been shot after he pointed what was thought to be a firearm at the troops.
But Palestinian sources and a journalist at the scene said that a broom had been found beside his body.
Tal’s family and neighbors also denied that he had been implicated in any anti-Israeli attacks.
