Palestinian response

In an exclusive interview with Aljazeera.net, the West Bank leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Zakariya al-Zubaidi, vowed swift retaliation. Our response to the assassination of Shaikh Yassin will not be like any other. Those who ordered the killing have committed a grave mistake. They will pay very dearly."  Al-Zubaidi continued: "Yassin was not only a symbol of resistance, but a symbol of Palestinian unity.

"The resistance shall intensify with the shaikh's death. Our brigades will retaliate and the response this time will be more painful. We shall not yield until the last drop of our blood."

Jamal Shati, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the head of the refugees affairs, told Aljazeera.net that the assassination of Yassin is further proof that the Zionist government only understands "the language of blood".

"For every action, there is a reaction," he said, speaking of an imminent Palestinian response. "What else does Israel expect from us while it continues with its murderous campaign that excludes no one?

"The death of Shaikh Yassin highlights the greatness of responsibility now facing the Palestinian people. This is a collective responsibility. Palestinians must reconsider their political approach toward Israel."

Raid Abbas, a member of the central committee of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the West Bank said: "Israel's goal is to quell the Palestinian uprising and weaken the spirit of the resistance.

"This assassination is part of Sharon's muscle flexing prior to any move regarding Gaza. He thinks that this way he can impose whatever policy he finds suitable on the Palestinian people.

"Now Israel has crossed all the red lines. The Palestinian Authority and every Palestinian faction must face the Zionist crime collectively." Dr Abed Al-Aziz al-Rantisi, a prominent Hamas activist, described Yassin as a "man in a nation, and a nation in a man. And the retaliation of this nation will be of the size of this man."

Palestinian negotiator Saib Uraiqat said: "This will add fuel to the fire, and the cycle of violence and counter-violence."  Meanwhile, prime minister Ahmad Quraya stated that the killing of Yassin, was "one of the biggest crimes that the Zionist government has committed".

Zionist response

On the other hand, the Zionist government viewed the Hamas leader's death in a different light.

In the Zionist radio interview Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim accused the assassinated leader of being the mastermind of the "terror network in the Gaza Strip".  The Zionist Prime minister Sharon had personally supervised the bloody attack on Yassin, according to Zionist radio.

Finance minister Binyamin Netanyahu hailed the killing of Yassin, saying: "Even if, in the short term, there will be a harsh response from Hamas, in the long term the effect will be to rein in Hamas and the rest of the terror organizations because their leaders will know that they will be destroyed." Gideon Meir, an official at the Zionist Foreign Ministry, made the claim that Yassin had been "the one who is sending children and women to explode themselves," inside Israel.

Avi Pazner, a Zionist government spokesman, also boasted about the "long run" benefit of assassinating Yassin.

"In the short run we will face more tension, but in the long run there is no doubt whatsoever we have improved the possibility of more security by weakening an extremely dangerous and murderous terrorist organization."