Abdel Aziz Rantisi: In His Own Words

[drdon326]

"By God, we will not leave one Jew in Palestine. We will fight them with all the strength we have. This is our land, not the Jews."

From his hospital bed on June 10, 2003. Rantisi suffered light shrapnel wounds following an Israeli missile strike on his car in Gaza City.

On Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: "A liar, terrorist, Nazi, with G-d's help Hamas will strike all of Israel a blow and will kill both Sharon the cur and his friend Peres."

About Suicide Bombers: "I congratulate them. They will teach the Jewish mothers in Haifa, Tel Aviv and everywhere that our blood is not cheap.

On the borders of Palestine: "There is no difference between Akko, Haifa, Gaza, Jaffa or Nablus. The Palestinian Intifada will continue until the last Zionist is banished."

On the Road Map peace proposal: "This is a Zionist conspiracy against the Palestinian people. Our armed resistance will not stop. On the contrary, Hamas will reach deep into the cities of Israel."


http://www.adl.org//israel/rantisi_words.asp

copy and paste

[mike_c]

1. sounds about right to me....

Sorry, I know you'll disagree, but Israel has lost all moral justification for its continued oppression of Palestinians, IMO. Israeli's should learn that the the blood of Palestinians is not cheap. May Allah bless the second intifada.

[Cassandra]

5. You'll be happy...

when all the Jews in Israel are dead, then?

[mike_c]

6. no, of course not....

That's not what I said, so please don't put words into my mouth. I WILL be happy when Isreal is forced-- either by the arab nations, the Palestinians themselves, or by some other entity-- to conduct a civilized foreign policy within the ME and to accept responsibility for 50 years of criminal conduct toward the Palestinians.

Personally, I support a single state solution in which Israeli Jews will be forced to come to some workable accomodation with the Palestinian Muslim majority in order to maintain a viable state. It worked in South Africa, after all, despite all the gnashing of teeth by the white minority. I also expect that some equivalent of SA's Truth and Reconcilation Commission will have to expose the crimes of both sides, and foster a national debate about how to deal with the criminals who committed them.

Failing that, I support a two state solution that is based on good faith negotiation toward a common goal of peace and respect for the sovereinity of both sides. I don't think that's likely-- or even possible now-- so I think the single state solution, in which Israel's dreams of regional hegemony and apartheid are swamped by simple demographics, is the best one.

on edit: that's when I'll be happy. What about you? Do you have any interest in finding a just settlement or do you simply favor continuing the extra-judicial killing of Palestinian civilian leaders, most of whom haven't committed any crime more serious than "blessing" or "supporting" the intifada?

[Cassandra]

8. Unfortunately...

"a single state solution in which Israeli Jews will be forced to come to some workable accommodation" = all Jews dead. That is the only "workable" (or should I say final) solution that Hamas will accept. Would you at least give Hamas the respect of taking them at their word? They're pretty clear about it.

[HawkerHurricane]

10. Also unfortunately...

"a solution in which Palastinian Arabs will be forced to come to some workable accommodation" = all Arabs dead or marginalized. That is the only "workable" (or should I say final) solution that Sharon will accept.

[mike_c]

11. Hamas has many good reasons to resist the Israelis....

Remember, there were lots of Afrikaans and other white minority leaders in SA who held on for years under the assumption that ending racial oppression and apartheid could only result in the deaths of all white citizens.

Assuming that any "'workable accommodation' = all Jews dead" is little different. One might argue that a better analogy is ethnic violence in the Balkans, but I don't think so. Jews and Muslims lived together in Palestine-- not always peacefully, but far closer to finding a workable solution than today-- for centuries before post-WWII Zionism converted the need to find social accomodation into full-on racial and religious warfare. Israel-- the state-- cannot continue to exist indefinitely in its present form without crushing the Palestinian people. Ignoring this leads to the opposite of the formula you propose: the status quo = all Palestinians dead or forcibly removed from the occupied territories. This is the atmosphere within which Hamas operates.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. The only way to find peace in that area

is to have a secular government that acknowledges freedom of religion and open access to all holy sites, imho.

[ex_jew]

3. Why is killing Rantisi Israel's response to getting exactly what they want

from Bush ? Can someone explain this to me ?

Perhaps killing is just addictive.

[Muddleoftheroad]

4. He was a Hamas leader

I don't see Hamas stopping their terror acts.

[mike_c]

7. neither will the Likud stop terrorist acts anytime soon...

...so do you support the assassination of Sharon or other right-wing Israeli leaders?

[Cassandra]

9. They can try

and I'm sure they do. Be careful what you wish for. You may get Netanyahu instead.

[mike_c]

12. I presume you're answering for Hamas, but my question...

...was directed toward MOTR. I've little doubt that Hamas would like to responnd to assassinations of their civilian and spiritual leaders by retaliating directly against the Likudists who ordered those assassinations.

[Daniela]

13. Cool

I like most of these quotes, especially this one, regarding Sharon:

"A liar, terrorist, Nazi, with G-d's help Hamas will strike all of Israel a blow and will kill both Sharon the cur and his friend Peres."

Israel is more and more resembling the Government of South Africa during the final days of apartheid. Desparation is showing, but the will to freedom and justice should never be underestimated.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. Rantissi will not be missed

Rantissi planned suicide attacks in cafes and recreation halls while offering Israel little more than a respite to stop. Those of us who desire peace could not take such a man seriously.

Nevertheless, like the assassination of Yassin, this won't do Israel any good in the long run. While Sharon has been assassinating terrorists, he's also been very busy providing the Palestinian people with legitimate grievances.

The Israelis, too, have legitimate grievances. The terrorist acts that Yassin and Rantissi promoted are ghastly war crimes. Even more to the point, such terrorists acts are futile. No suicide bombing has prevented the construction of one housing unit in an Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian land or one foot of segregated road to access the illegal settlements.

One would hope that Palestinian resistance to the injustices of Israeli occupation would find a more reasonable voice than those of Yassin and Rantissi, one that would be missed were the Israelis to silence it. One would hope that instead of targeting innocent civilians who are not part of the conflict, the Palestinian resistance would take more direct action against the injustices of the occupation.