New head of Hamas in Israel's sights

The Times (UK) ^ | 4/19/04 | Richard Beeston

[saquin]

WITHIN hours of the killing of Abdel Aziz Rantissi by the Israelis, the Palestinian militant group Hamas chose a grey-bearded and softly spoken physician to become its third leader in just under four bloody weeks in the Gaza Strip.

The appointment of Dr Mahmoud Zahar, 53, was kept secret as he joined tens of thousands of Palestinians at the funeral of Dr Rantissi.

Dr Zahar is married with children. He was for years best known as a working doctor and the personal physician of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas’s spiritual leader, who was killed in an Israeli missile attack last month.

But in a secret selection process Dr Zahar was chosen to lead the organisation in Gaza, its birthplace and main support base.

The announcement was kept secret, but Palestinian, Israeli and Western sources quickly confirmed that the Egyptian-educated doctor had assumed the leadership — and with it an automatic place at the top of Israel’s hit list.

“There were no real other candidates for the leadership in Gaza,” a Western diplomat said. “Most of them have been killed. Not surprisingly Hamas is not going to make the announcement public.”

Dr Zahar was certainly not intimidated yesterday when he joined 70,000 Hamas mourners paying their last respects to Dr Rantissi, who died on Saturday night when the car he was travelling in was hit by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter gunship.

“You can see (the future of) the movement in the sea of people here today,” said Dr Zahar, who last year survived an Israeli assassination attempt that killed his son. “We are committed to the policy of resistance and we cannot be swayed. Hamas cannot be defeated. Hamas cannot be broken.”

That defiance was being challenged in Israel last night. After Sheikh Yassin’s death, Hamas warned Israel that it had opened “the gates of hell”, and after Dr Rantissi’s assassination the group vowed a “volcano of revenge”.

But so far the organisation responsible for pioneering suicide bombings against Israeli civilians has failed to strike back, and Israeli security officials believe its “decapitation” policy is working.

“The rest of the leadership are on the run. When they’re fleeing they can’t organise or perpetrate terrorist acts,” said a spokesman for Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister. “We knew these targeted assassinations are not going to dismantle Hamas, but when the leaders spend more time on their protection or hiding out they lose their ability to operate.”

Despite international outrage at Dr Rantissi’s killing, Mr Sharon told cabinet colleagues he planned to continue striking terrorist organisations and their leaders. Ministers said that included Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’s external leader in Damascus, “the minute we have operational ability to do this”.

Killing Sheikh Yassin was easy as he followed the same routine each day. After assuming the leadership Dr Rantissi lived largely underground, appearing only when protected by crowds, but survived less than a month before the Israelis got him.

The outlook for Dr Zahar appears bleak. He has few places to hide from the prying eyes and ears of Israeli intelligence. Although Gaza’s narrow strip of land is teeming with more than a million Palestinians, the Israelis have built up an extensive network of informants who monitor the movements of key figures.

[Slings and Arrows]

A hurricane of hughness!

[MNJohnnie]

Wonder what he looks like with his brains splattered on the pavement

Better?

[whd23]

They wanted this new goy to be made public for a reason.

Ha ha ha! Nice slip

[davetex]

BRAVO

[saxxa]

BAMMMMMM !!!!!......Was that him ?.......BAMMMMMM!!!!!.........Was that him ????..........BAMMMMMM !!!!!...YOU GET THE POINT...WORKS FOR ME

[Ciexyz]

My local paper, the liberal Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, headlined Rantisi's demise as: "Israel kills Hamas leader." In contrast, the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review headlined the story as "Israel kills militant."

I'm sure the Kerry campaign also views these leaders of homicide bombers as "Hamas leaders" instead of terrorist "militants".

[kjam22]

Dr Zahar was certainly not intimidated yesterday when he joined 70,000 Hamas mourners paying their last respects to Dr Rantissi,

Sure seems like Israel missed a golden opportunity.

[small voice in the wilderness]

A Deluge of Doom!!

[winker]

Or evenly spread out inside his Merceedes!

[Salem]

LOL!!  

[lavrenti]

There was a Freeper (handle escapes me) who actually met Zahar in Gaza several years ago and posted his negative impressions of him.

I really cannot believe this bum is the actual boss hog of Hamas, but ice him anyway. My money is they gave it to that other loudmouth though he supposedly is "too young".

Obviously part of the "disengagement" policy is to disengage the worst from the breath of life before Gaza is left to stew in its sewage.

[marshmallow]

Does being a physician in the Islamic world not provide the same job satisfaction that it does in the west? Is saving lives and helping to restore peoples' health insufficiently rewarding and stimulating for these people? They all seem to turn into killers and bomb makers. Bin Laden's consigliere al-Zawahiri, the recently departed Rantisi and now this goon. All medics gone wrong.

I guess they don't get the same rush from writing prescriptions for Claritin and Penicilin.

[pointsal]

For the life of me (no pun) how can someone be a "doctor" and an agent of a killing machine? May these folks roast in HELL.

[VeniVidiVici]

Think any of the Muslim minions in the Middle East will wonder why the Hamas leadership is no longer looking forward to martyrdom and 72 virgins? Think they'll wonder why else Hamas wishes to keep their new "Bullet boy's" name a secret?

Can the thought process even reach a logical conclusion?

[Hell to pay]

Mahmoud Al-Zahar

[Guillermo]

Yes, that was a good one, wasn't it! LOL!

[RS]

"“There were no real other candidates for the leadership in Gaza,”

So just a couple more missiles and Hamas falls apart ?

[Hand em their arse]

Damn, I was going to MAYBE give him to the end of the week...

[Migraine]

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar smiles from his hospital bed in Gaza City on Wednesday. An Israeli warplane narrowly failed in an attempt to assassinate Zahar but killed his son and a bodyguard in Gaza City on Wednesday. — Reuters photo 9/10/2003

Hey! I can make out what it says on his bedsheet! It says "Abba dabba dabba dabba, abba dabba dabba". No wonder he's laughing!

[Hand em their arse]

"Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar smiles from his hospital bed in Gaza City on Wednesday"

"An Israeli warplane narrowly failed in an attempt to assassinate Zahar but killed his son"


Doesn't that just say it all, he's smiling after his son dies instead of him.... SCUM....BAG!!!!