Killing Hamas leader escalated the tension in the Middle East

Riots in Iraq, Palestine and sone other Middle East areas followed the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

PRAVDA.RU newspaper wrote before that even mere pragmatism must demand then a broader and more comprehensive solution than escalating the military conflict between Israel and Palestine.

For that to happen the Bush administration has got to be prepared to apportion blame on both sides and display a greater level of even-handedness in their handling of this matter and it does not instill confidence in that regard when even a resolution in the UN criticising Israel for considering the assassination of Yasser Arafat (a democratically elected leader whether on likes him or not) could not get US support as it vetoed it.

According to PRAVDA.RU columnist Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, retaliation for this attack is not a question of if, but when. Hamas has issued a statement which reads "All the Moslems of the world will be honoured to join in on the retaliation for this crime".

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin embodied the most intransigent form of Palestinian resistance. He believed that Palestine was an Islamic land "consecrated for future Moslem generations until the Day of Judgment" and that "The so-called peace path is not peace and it is not a substitute for jihad and resistance".