September 30, 2001
GAZA CITY – The spiritual leader of the Islamic militant Hamas movement,
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, accused Israel and the Jews Sunday of masterminding
this month’s deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon:
“We should worry about Israel because they say all Muslims are the enemy.
They are behind what happened in America, the crippled preacher roared to a
crowd of more than 3,000 at the Islamic University in Gaza City.
The Jews are behind the events in September and maybe they used Islamic
militants for these attacks, but they are behind it because they feel the Islamic
world is dangerous. So they did they this to kill Islam.”
Yassin, whose group has unleashed the majority of the suicide bomb attacks on
Israel, was hitting out at the US manhunt for Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama
bin Laden, the alleged plotter of the September 11 suicide jet attacks in New
York and Washington.
The fiery religious leader also vowed to forge ahead with the year-old
initifada or uprising, which marked its first anniversary on Friday with
blood-soaked demonstrations.
“It is necessary to continue the intifada to reach Palestinian aims,”
Yassin said.
“The resistance should continue by all means and all colours to
achieve victory or to be martyred.”
He blamed Israel for pushing Palestinians to violent extremes during the
intifada:
“The people wielded stones to face tanks, helicopters and missiles. We
started using mortars, suicide bombs and explosives to meet their aggression,
he said, adding proudly: But our enemy which has F-16s and tanks and Apache
helicopters is now screaming.”
Against the backdrop of a shaky Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire agreement, Yassin
hit out at moderate Palestinians calling for an alternative campaign of civil
disobedience.
“Some people call for it to be a peaceful intifada. How can we make it peaceful
when our enemy continues hitting us and hitting our children?” he asked the
crowd.
“It is legal to defend ourselves. If they say defending ourselves is a
terrorist act and the defense of Jerusalem and Palestinians is a terrorist act, we
are terrorists.”
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said earlier Sunday the
security cabinet had given Sharon the go-ahead to ask the United States to put
Hamas and its smaller Islamist rival Islamic Jihad on its list of known terrorist
organisations.
