Abdel Aziz Rantissi, a hard-liner who rejects all compromise with Israel, was chosen Tuesday as the new Hamas leader, one day after the group's founder was assassinated by Israel. Rantissi said he emerged from secret elections as the overall chief of Hamas and was chosen to head the group's political bureau, the main decision-making body. Until now, the political bureau was led by Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas operative based in Syria.
| ... where he is, of course, not involved in terrorism. |
Rantissi replaces Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was helizapped blown away assisted from the gene pool slain in an attack by Israel. Rantissi told The Associated Press that Hamas would press for more attacks against Israel. "We will be unified in the trenches of resistance," the 54-year-old pediatrician said. "We will not surrender, we will never surrender to Israeli terror."
| "I am gonna be so-o-o-o-o dead!" |
Since its creation in 1987, Hamas has been run largely as a collective of senior activists in Gaza and the Arab world, with Yassin in a key role as the brains of the outfit ideologue, spiritual leader and strategist. Hamas leaders said that while the killing of Yassin was a blow to morale, it would not hamper the group's operations, including its ability to carry out attacks. Hamas is pledged to Israel's destruction. "Hamas will continue in the same way Sheik Yassin taught us. Hamas has its infrastructure, its institutions," Ismail Haniyeh, a top Yassin aide, said as Hamas leaders formed a reception line at a Gaza City soccer stadium Monday night for the wheelchair swarm to greet thousands of mourners.
Hamas is secretive about its organization, though the broad outlines are known. General policy was set by the political bureau, which was headed by Mashaal in Damascus, Syria. Other members of the bureau include several Hamas leaders in the Arab world, as well as Rantissi, Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zahar in Gaza. The Hamas military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, plans and carries out attacks on Israelis. It is headed by two shadowy figures, Mohammed Deif and the appropriately-named Adnan al-Ghoul, who top Israel's wanted list and have been operating from hiding for years. It remains unclear how much autonomy the military wing has in deciding on the timing and target of attacks, and to what extent it is directed by the political bureau.
| All of it's directed by the politburo. Trust me on this. |
Israel said Yassin personally approved many of the hundreds of Hamas attacks it said killed 377 Israelis and wounded more than 2,000 over the years. |