RIYADH, 19 April 2004 — Israel’s assassination of new Hamas leader Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi on Saturday has sparked fury and condemnation across the Kingdom.
Comment after comment also pointed the finger at the US for what many see as its tacit support for such attacks.
Dr. Turki Al-Hamad, a Saudi intellectual, said the murder of Dr. Rantissi was clearly the immediate fall-out of the Bush-Sharon meeting. “It is very obvious that the Bush Administration has given Sharon the green light to commit such a crime,” he said.
Al-Hamad said it was baffling to see that on the one hand the United States wanted to fight terrorism the world over and on the other was giving legitimacy to state-sponsored terrorism. “On the one hand they are talking about the road map to peace and on the other they themselves are creating monsters,” he said.
The assassination also indicated the failure of American foreign policy, according to Saudi social activist Dr. Sami Angawi, a member of the Saudi Council for National Dialogue and a well-known architect.
“I lived in the US for many years, and I still don’t understand how their foreign policy can be so incoherent and contrary to the thinking of the American masses,” he said.
But Angawi said Israeli aggression “should not be answered by another act of violence.”
“It is an unforgivable crime and it will have serious implications in the Middle East,” said Ihsan Bu Hulaiga, a prominent member of the Shoura Council. “How can such criminal acts contribute to the Middle East peace process?”
Bu Hulaiga also took the international community to task for failing to rein in Israel and miserably failing to settle the problem of occupation, the central issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Local diplomats said the murder showed that Israel has turned its back on dialogue. Austrian Ambassador Harald Wiesner said his country’s position remained the same as after the recent killing of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
“The murder of Rantissi is contrary to international law and will hamper the peace process,” Wiesner said.
Polish Ambassador Adam Kulach endorsed the opinion of the European Union, which condemned the killing today. The EU “expressed deep concern at the ongoing and seemingly endless cycle of retaliatory violence involving Palestinian groups and the Israeli defense forces,” he said.
It “reminded the Israelis that extrajudicial killings are contrary to international law and respect for law should mark an important distinction between democratically elected governments and terrorist groups,” he said.
Saleh Al-Humaidan, the managing director of the Al-Youm Group of Publications, was angry that so many world leaders kept ominously silent over the killing.
He said such targeted killings would not put an end to the suicide bombings; far from it: “Israel and the United States are trying to redefine the term revolutionary and ‘freedom fighters’. They have to understand that these people are freedom fighters and not terrorists.
“By their own definition then, George Washington was a bigger terrorist,” he said.
Ordinary Saudis were united in their outrage, with many calling for revenge. “It seems as if the Israelis understand the language of blood only. After the killing of Sheikh Yassin using American-made weapons, they have committed another cowardly act,” said Amer Ahmad, a university student in Jeddah.
“I hope there will be a massive counterattack by the Palestinians killing as many Israeli leaders as possible. ... It is time to treat them the same way they treat us,” he said.
The feeling was echoed by Muhsin Muhammad: “We as Muslims and Arabs should open our eyes to the fact that there is no such a thing as peace with Zionists,” he said.
Expatriates too were angry. “Targeted assassination? Maybe the Israelis should learn how to aim better,” said Michael, a US citizen living in Jeddah.
“Does the Israeli government truly expect us to believe that assassination by Apache helicopter attack is the only way to get someone? I wonder how many innocent bystanders were killed and wounded as a result of this targeted attack,” he said.
“Shock doesn’t begin to explain my feeling when I heard the news,” said Maria Ramos, a European. “I have been following the recent developments closely, and living in the Middle East has given me a very different perspective from that of my fellow Europeans. I believe the whole world is utterly mistaken and polluted by its own propaganda.”
Akhtar Siddiqui of King Khaled hospital in Riyadh is angy at the US. “The US will probably reward Tel Aviv for such an act of state terrorism and increase its aid and arms supplies,” he said.
He also drew attention to a feeling of frustration many in the Arab world experience. “These repeated assassinations explain our helplessness as Arabs and Muslims,” he added.
“Bush has shown his true treacherous face and reaffirmed that America is our enemy,” said Abdulrahman, a reception clerk at a hotel in Riyadh.
Maysoun Kabbani from Syria feels the Arab world is the victim of incessant attacks. “While Israel receives billions from the US, the Palestinians live in squalor,” he added. “Yet the Israelis are portrayed as victims by CNN.”
Sudani driver Othman T. believes the assassination will backfire. “The Israelis aren’t very intelligent,” he said.
“Hamas has already declared that they will select a new leader secretly. This assassination has only inflamed the already volatile situation. Unless the West understands what the people in this region feel they will only cause a deeper division between the Muslim Ummah and those who want to see its destruction.”
