Ahmed Yassin "We went to Cairo to consolidate national unity, not to wave
the white flag of surrender at the Jewish enemy"
IDF Spokesperson 12 January 2003

In an interview to a Muslim website on Jan. 10, 2003, Hamas' spiritual
leader, Ahmed Yassin, vowed that the PA had aided the Palestinian terrorist
organizations to carry out terrorist attacks against Israel.

Yassin called on Iraq to take Hamas' example and to turn their citizens into
human bombs by equipping them with suicide belts in order to resist the US
and members of its coalition.

The following are several of Ahmed Yassin's comments to the forum on the
Muslim website Alskifa, Jan. 10, 2003.

Suicide bombings reinforce national unity

"Suicide attacks and Jihad reinforce national unity in the ranks. Proof of
this can be seen from the fact that all factions commit such attacks".

Palestinian Police is an accomplice to terror

"The Palestinian Police force has, several times, aided fighters to
perpetrate their actions, although also occasionally arresting them briefly
in compliance with orders 'from above'. We have become used to this
situation".

The Palestinian Authority, also an accomplice to terror

"The PA itself supports the Jihad activities and the suicide attacks, whilst
at the same time it requests us [Hamas] to put a stop to them. We are often
opposed to the President [Arafat] and those who want us to stop our struggle
and instead to concentrate on popular demonstrations against the Zionist
enemy. We force ourselves to tighten the ranks and to solve our problems
with the President [Arafat] and the Authority [PA] through dialogue, and
without having to resort to violence. We have not forgotten that the PA has
to face an enormous amount of Israeli-American Pressure"

Hamas has no intentions of putting an end to the suicide bombings

"On the subject of the Cairo convention [which aimed to get a unified
declaration from the different Palestinian factions on the subject of an
eventual halt to attacks], we have an obligation to the Palestinian and
international Arab public. We simply can not agree to certain subjects that
were debated. We went to Cairo to consolidate national unity, not to wave
the white flag of surrender at the Jewish enemy. The interests of the
Palestinian public are our soul goal. We have, in the past, accepted a
cease-fire for one week or two, in order to comply with the internal wishes
of the Palestinians, however, a decision to completely halt [terrorist]
activities would definitly be rejected.

Our voice is one of struggle, of Jihad and of suicide. Victory or death for
the path of Allah. Palestine from the sea [Mediterranean] to the river
[Jordan], from Nakoura [in the north] to Rafah [in the south]".

Iraq will win if it transforms its citizens into human bombs

"I maintain that Iraq could win if it equipped its citizens with explosive
belts and turned them into human bombs".

Extracts from Yassin's statement:

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