Arabs vow revenge for Yassin killing

Arabs universally condemned the assassination of the Palestinian militant leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, vowing revenge on Israelis.

The Palestinian Authority declared a three-day mourning period saying the Israelis had crossed “all red lines”.

“The Palestinian leadership condemns the crime of assassination of the hero leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin and the brothers who were assassinated with him,” said a statement issued by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and other officials in the Palestinian Authority.

“Israel has exceeded all red lines with this cheap and dirty crime,” it added.

The leadership declared the mourning period in the Palestinian territories and for the millions of Palestinians living abroad. The Palestinian Cabinet was scheduled to meet later today.

“This is one of the biggest crimes that the Israeli government has committed,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said.

Mohammed Mahdi Akef, the leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, arguably the largest Islamic movement in the Middle East, issued a warning to all Americans and Israelis.

“There can be no life for the Americans and Zionists in the region,” Akef told the pan-Arabic satellite television Al-Jazeera. “We will not rest until they (Israelis) are expelled from the region.”

A spokesman for a group of militant Palestinian groups in the Palestinian territories, Abu Abeer, told another pan-Arab satellite channel there would be “swift and serious” repercussions.

“They (Israelis) have opened the gates of hell,” he warned on Al-Arabiya television. “For us, everything is now permissible after this assassination.”

In Khartoum, the Sudanese Islamic leader, Hassan Turabi, told al-Jazeera that the killing would have an impact on Arab states.

“I think that this will put pressure on the Arab governments that have so far let down the Palestinian cause,” he said, without naming any government.

The United States and Australia quickly called for restraint from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said: “The United States urges all sides to remain calm and exercise restraint.”

In Australia, a spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer urged restraint.

“We would certainly urge calm on both sides to try and prevent any further decline into violence in that region,” said Chris Kenny.

But he added that Yassin had “actively supported suicide bombings over the years that have killed scores of Israeli civilians”.