22 March 2004 For Immediate Release

Al-Awda San Diego, a local chapter of the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, strongly condemns the extra-judicial murder of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of The Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine, known by its acronym as HAMAS.

Ten other Palestinian by-standers were killed by the Zionist occupation army.

Sheikh Yassin, a 67-year-old, partially blind quadriplegic, was assassinated while leaving a mosque in Gaza in his wheelchair. It is unclear whether this war crime was committed without the prior knowledge and approval of the Bush administration.

Sheikh Yassin was a refugee from the village of al-Jura near the southern Palestinian city of Asqalan.

The murder of Yassin by missiles from a US supplied Apache helicopter, like 200 other similar extrajudicial executions carried out by Israel, is strongly condemned by the international community and human rights groups across the globe as violations of international law and as war crimes.

This horrific act shows that Israeli leaders objectives are to perpetuate violence and state-sponsored terrorism to avoid having to address the root cause of the conflict: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

We extend our condolences to the Palestinian people, our brothers and sisters in this struggle. We urge the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah to declare its rejection of any plans or agreements that fall short of ending the Israeli occupation and the recognition of the inalienable right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their original homes and lands.

We call on all people of conscience to condemn this and other atrocious attacks and to demand an end to U.S. governmental military and financial aid and backing for such illegal Zionist war crimes.

Al-Awda San Diego
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013-1352
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-360-933-3568
http://www.al-awdasandiego.org