Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

GAZA CITY, 18 January 2004 — Hamas warned yesterday that Israel would “drown in a sea of blood” if it tries to kill Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the largest radical Palestinian movement. The threat came as the Israeli Cabinet was preparing to decide whether to contest a world court hearing on its West Bank wall, which the Jewish state says it needs to prevent attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.

“Israel will pay a high price for any attempt to hurt Sheikh Yassin or any other Hamas leader,” the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement sent to AFP in Gaza.

“We will make the Israeli Zionists drown in a sea of blood.”

The warning was in response to a veiled threat by Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim to resume the policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders after he said the elderly sheikh was a marked man.

“Sheikh Yassin is marked for death, and he should hide himself deep underground where he will not know the difference between day and night. And we will find him in the tunnels, and we will eliminate him,” Boim said Thursday.

The military believes Yassin, who escaped an Israeli attempt on his life last year, personally ordered a suicide bombing at the Gaza-Israel crossing point Wednesday by a young Palestinian mother that killed four Israelis.

But the United States, the Jewish state’s closest ally, told Israel to consider the consequences of its actions.

“While Israel does have the right to defend itself, we’ve also made clear (it) needs to consider the consequences of any actions it might be contemplating,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday.