Ahmad Yasin

Sheikh Ahmad Yasin ( Arabic أحمد ياسين, DMG Aḥmad Yāsīn , alternative spelling Ahmad Jassin ; * 1936 or 1937 near Madschdal / Negev ; † March 22, 2004 in Gaza ) was one of the leading founders of Hamas and its spiritual leader until his targeted killing by the Israeli military .

Life

childhood

Yasin was (according to other sources in 1938) in the fishing village in the district Djura Majdal, a village in the 1936 Negev - desert near Ashkelon : born (now Ashkelon). He was one of nine children. The date of birth on his Palestinian passport was January 1, 1929. He himself stated 1938. When Yasin was five years old, his father, a local dignitary, died. As a result of the 1st Arab-Israeli War of 1948, his family fled to Gaza .

Since a sports accident in 1952, he was paraplegic from the waist down . There are very contradicting statements about the accident itself: some sources say he did a headstand on the beach in Gaza, fell and broke his spine . According to other sources, however, he seriously injured his spine while diving for mussels . A third possibility is given as a kick in the spine during a soccer game in the refugee camp in Shati.

Political and religious activities

In 1955 he became a member of the Muslim Brothers and in 1959 he studied languages ​​and Islamic theology for a year at Ain Shams University in Cairo . In 1960 Achmed married Yasin Halima. She had eleven or twelve children, the sources contradict one another here. Until 1984 he still worked as a teacher at times. As a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, he was imprisoned in Egypt for 45 days for subversive activities and association with the Brotherhood.

After the Six Day War in 1967, Ahmad Yasin tried to strengthen the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip. An organization for Arab workers called al-Mujamma ^c . In 1973 he founded an “Islamic Center for the Coordination of Social Programs”. This was also promoted by the states of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting States). In 1978, Yasin officially registered Hamas' forerunner organization, al-Mujamma ^c al-islāmī , with the Israeli occupiers.

In the early 1980s, Yasin founded the Majd al-mudschāhidīn ("Glory of the Fighters of Islam"). The Fatah , the Palestinian patriotic liberation movement of Yasser Arafat , accused Yasin before "cooperation with the Zionists" because he is not in the struggle against Israel participated. As a result, Yasin began collecting weapons in 1982. This ring of weapons was discovered in 1984: an Israeli court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for possession of weapons, other sources speak of 13 years. After just eleven months, he was released along with 1,150 other prisoners during a prisoner exchange; the Israeli tank commander Hezi Schai was released for this.

Hamas

In 1986 he founded the Islamist Hamas with other Muslim Brotherhoods and became its chief ideologist. The founding members were Mohammed Jamal al-Natsheh, Jamal Mansur, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Mahmud Muslih, Jamil Hamami and Ayman Abu Taha.

He repeatedly called for violent resistance against Israel , relying above all on the numerous suicide bombers . He has since been the driving force behind the Izz-ad-Dīn-al-Qassām Brigades , the military arm of Hamas. On August 18, 1988, eight months after the beginning of the first Intifada , Ahmad Yasin published the Hamas Charter . In 1989, Hamas was banned by Israel.

In 1989 the visually impaired Sheikh was arrested by the Israeli authorities and in 1991 sentenced by a court to life imprisonment for inciting the murder of so-called Palestinian collaborators and for inciting the kidnapping and murder of two Israeli soldiers. In 1993, Hamas organized a wave of suicide attacks to torpedo the Oslo peace process .

In 1997, under the then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , the Israelis wanted to kill the Hamas leader Chalid Maschal, who was in Amman , Jordan . However, this company failed, and two Mossad - agents were arrested. Thereupon King Hussein of Jordan put pressure on Netanyahu to release Yasin as part of a prisoner exchange: On October 1, 1997, Yasin was released from Tel-Mond prison. After Ahmad Yasin was deported to Jordan and received medical help there, he flew back to the Gaza Strip on October 6, 1997 , where he received a triumphant reception at the Yarmuk football stadium. Yasser Arafat also had to take note of this popularity: on January 27, 1998, he kissed Yasin on the forehead, although the two rivaled each other to a certain extent for the leadership of the Palestinians. Under Yasin's decisive influence, Hamas was followed by a period of moderation, which included a preliminary recognition of Palestine within the borders of 1967, but ended in 2000 after the outbreak of the Second Intifada.

In the spring of 1998, Yasin went on a four-month trip through Arab countries to raise money for his cause. The trip went through the countries of Yemen , Kuwait , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , Sudan , Syria and the United Arab Emirates . He was not allowed to go to Jordan and was not allowed to enter Egypt until Israel agreed. He came up with 50 million dollars back. In August 1999, the Jordanian authorities banned all Hamas activities on their territory.

After the outbreak of the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada , Yasin continued to aggressively verbally attack Israel and call for assassinations against the military and civilians. Regarding the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States , Yasin said, "It may make him sad, but the attacks on Israel" are "something completely different". On December 13, Israel officially severed all contacts with Arafat. As a result, Arafat lost more and more reputation. In order to demonstrate his power, however, he placed Yasin under house arrest on June 24, 2002. There was a protest demonstration and violent clashes between around 150 Hamas supporters and Palestinian police officers; and Yasin called Arafat "defector" and "traitor". Arafat's authority had to lift the measure against the sheikh both times due to massive pressure from the population.

On June 13, 2003, Israel announced that Yasin was not immune to targeted killing. On September 6, Yasin survived an attack by Israeli F-16 planes using a 250-kilogram bomb with a slight hand injury, whereupon he publicly swore revenge.

death

At 5 a.m. on Monday, March 22, 2004, Ahmad Yasin was liquidated by three Hellfire rockets from an Israeli helicopter as part of a targeted killing operation in the Zaitūn neighborhood of Gaza City . Nine other people died, including two of his sons. 15 people were injured, according to Palestinian hospitals. The decision to kill him, according to the Israeli reason, was made after the two suicide attacks on the port of Ashdod on March 14th. Yasin's successor was Abd al-Aziz ar-Rantisi , who, however, was also killed by the Israelis 26 days later. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan strongly condemned this killing.

On March 26, the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israel for the killing of Yasin's veto by the United States. Germany, Great Britain and Romania abstained.

Thousands of Palestinians took part in the funeral procession for Yasin's funeral.

See also

• Middle East conflict

Web links

• The targeted killing measure against Sheikh Ahmad Yassin from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation
• Profile at BBC (English)
• Guardian Obituary (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mosab Hassan Yousef with Ron Brackin, son of Hamas , SCM Hässler Verlag, 1st edition 2010, p 35
2. ↑ Annan strongly condemns Israeli assassination of Hamas leader ( Memento of February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
3. ↑ Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger of March 27, 2004, page 6
4. ↑ Paradox: Sheikh Ahmed Jassin's death means a weakening of the autonomy authority. Friedrich Ebert Foundation (PDF; 66 kB)