Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid

No one doubts that the Palestinian organization Hamas is quite capable of responding brutally to the criminal assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, but Hamas is an organization with a political agenda and specific goals — it is not one to be swept away by emotions. The real challenge for the people of Palestine, their organizations and leaders is to look at the overall result: Israel’s decision to pull out of Gaza.

Yielding to anger will only lead to more and more victims and more years of the two sides living without hope of an end to the bloodbath.

Great leaders are guided by their vision and not by the angry mobs on the street. Since Israel, with the extremist Ariel Sharon at its head, has admitted to its failure in Gaza and announced its desire to withdraw, let the aim be to compel them to pull out and not to delay that withdrawal.

Sheikh Yassin and others like him knew that they lived on borrowed time, that assassins had them in their sights every day and that consequently their death was a possibility. Early on they knew the price to be paid for resisting the occupation. Vengeance is meaningless in times of war.

In my view, Palestinians today are that much closer to liberating all of their country and not just the Gaza strip, with the world acknowledging their rights and their state. We must not let this potentially historic moment slip away with military clashes in Gaza that will only prolong Israeli defiance when Palestinian interests are best served by a pullout.

Sharon doesn’t want to withdraw from Gaza defeated in the eyes of his people, and therefore he will use every available instrument to project heroism ahead of the withdrawal of his defeated troops. This validates the assassination of the sheikh. Sharon will not hesitate to carry out other such “heroic” actions.

The goal is Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, not revenge for the killing of the sheikh or his predecessors. They where fighters, and in wars there are always casualties. The best way of avenging them is to achieve what they fought for — the liberation of the Occupied Territories.

Comments made by some of Hamas’ leadership confirm the clarity of their vision. As Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi said, if the Israelis cease their war and occupation we too will stop. Another, Khaled Mishal, said that the organization would not target foreigners despite their support of Israel.

“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”, and wars are not won by the blind.