The reasons behind the assassination of Ahmad Yassine

Ahmad Yassine, the spiritual leader of Hamas, was assassinated by the direct order of Ariel Sharon and carried out by Apache helicopters. This should not be analyzed as only the assassination of one person.
The reasons behind the assassination of Ahmad Yassine
There is no doubt that the Zionist regime had specific reasons and purposes for carrying out the assassination of Shaykh Ahmad Yassine. Shaykh Ahmad was born in the village al-Jawar near Asqalan. This village, along with many other villages, was occupied by Jewish forces in 1948. At that time, Yassine moved with his family to Gaza. Yassine started his resistance after completing his studies at Al-Azhar University. He was arrested numerous times by the Zionist regime before he was finally assassinated. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in the year 1983 and was released two years afterwards. In 1989 he was arrested again and sentenced to 15 years in prison and was released in a prisoner swap in 1997. He lost his sight while resisting and at the time of his martyrdom his body was extremely fragile. Despite his fragile body he was considered the charismatic leader of Hamas. He was also loved by the rest of the Palestinian political parties. He held the second place of affection amongst the Palestinian people after Arafat. The Zionist regime wanted to strike Hamas, a group that takes responsibility for most of the martyrdom missions performed in Palestine, by murdering their founder, Shaykh Yassine.

Another reason behind the assassination was that the Zionist regime wanted to destroy the balance of the Palestinian political groups after the retreat from Gaza. In the opinion of the Zionist regime Palestinian groups such as Hamas, Jihad, and even the Quds Martyr Brigades – the military wing of Fatah – did not cooperate at all. This gap of strength must be filled. There was a gap of strength in the region because Egypt did not accept controlling it, the weakness of the PLO, and the inability of international organizations. Zionist sources announced that Yassine was assassinated at a time when the mentioned groups were on the verge of making an agreement over the control of Gaza. They then quoted members of Hamas. For example, they quoted Nasir Rayan, one of the top members of Hamas, as saying: “Hamas has a program for controlling Gaza after the retreat.” Sharon predicted that after the assassination of Yasin Palestinian groups, especially Hamas, would take severe revenge and then Sharon would be able to announce the insecurity of Gaza and the retreat would be cancelled. One of the points that must be observed is that this prediction did not actualize. In opposition to the prediction the assassination of Yassine did not create a third intifada.

Yassine was a father figure for all of the members of Hamas. He was the spiritual leader of Hamas. But, that does not mean that the Palestinians will not be able to find another leader like him.

At the end it must be said that the Zionist regime assassinated him by continuing their policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders. Shaykh Ahmad Yassine was 68 years old at the time of his martyrdom.



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