Ahmed Yassin Says Hamas Won't Disarm

24/09/2003| IslamWeb

Emerging for a news conference for the first time since Israel tried to kill him, the founder of the militant group Hamas said Wednesday his group will not disarm or accept a truce with Israel. Sheik Ahmed Yassin rebuffed the incoming Palestinian prime minister and sent a defiant message to Israel, which tried to kill him Sept. 6 by bombing a Gaza City building where he presided at a meeting with Hamas leaders. Wednesday's news conference marked Yassin's first high-profile public appearance since the airstrike. Yassin, along with other Hamas leaders, has been marked for death by Israel, and he had left his home only once, briefly, since the bombing. Yassin sent a challenge to incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who has complained of the "chaos of weapons" in the Palestinian areas, proposed a comprehensive truce with Israel and invited Hamas into his government. The setting of Wednesday's news conference reflected Hamas' growing concerns for the safety of its leaders. Yassin spoke to journalists at a mosque, presumably a site Israel would not attack because of religious sensitivities. He also was not flanked by senior Hamas officials, as would have been customary. Qureia has not said what steps, if any, he would take to get illegal weapons off the street, as required by the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan that envisions a Palestinian state by 2005. Qureia and other officials have said they won't use force against the armed groups. Yassin said Wednesday that Hamas would not disarm voluntarily. "The weapons that our people carry to defend our land and our people, nobody can confiscate them," he said. "We can only talk about this after liberating the land. Taking weapons means surrender and defeat." Yassin also said Hamas would not agree to a truce with Israel; a unilateral cease-fire declared by Hamas and other militants June 29 collapsed in a burst of violence several weeks later. "There is no place to talk about a truce because the enemy is continuing his aggression, killing and settlement activities," Yassin said, but stopped short of saying there would be continued Hamas bombings and shootings. Qureia had also proposed that Hamas join his government. In the past, Hamas - the largest Palestinian opposition group - has said it wanted nothing to do with the Palestinian Authority, a product of interim peace deals with Israel the group opposes. Yassin on Wednesday renewed his opposition to a broad coalition. "We refuse to be part of any government under (Israeli) occupation," Yassin said. "If this government wants to liberate our land and our sacred places, we will surely welcome it. But if it wants to push us to surrender, we will reject it." **PHOTO CAPTION*** Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Islamic movement Hamas talks to reporters in Gaza September 24, 2003.

www.islamweb.net