[All emphasized passages in the following quotes are my own emphasis.]
"Some Palestinians had considered Yassin a relative moderate inside Hamas[...]"
-Reuters, 3/23/2004
"We condemn this violation of international law as an act of state terrorism by Ariel Sharon's out-of-control government. Israel's extra-judicial killing of an Islamic religious leader can only serve to perpetuate the cycle of violence throughout the region. The international community must now take concrete steps to help protect the Palestinian people against such wanton Israeli violence. "
-CAIR, 3/22/2004 press release
"Arafat condemned the assassination, saying Israel had 'crossed all red lines,' and declared a three-day mourning period. Flags at his headquarters in Ramallah were lowered to half-staff. "
-Guardian, 3/22/2004
"The Secretary-General strongly condemns Israel?s assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, which resulted in the deaths of eight others. He is concerned that such an action would lead to further bloodshed and death and acts of revenge and retaliation. He reiterates that extrajudicial killings are against international law and calls on the Government of Israel to immediately end this practice. The only way to halt an escalation in the violence is for the parties to work towards a viable negotiating process aimed at a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement."
-Statement of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, 3/22/2004
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than a hundred people carrying Palestinian flags and protest signs marched outside the Israeli consulate in New York on Tuesday to condemn Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush after the assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin.
'I'm here to demonstrate as an American that I'm so tired of Israel and their crimes and I'm disgusted in our government,' said Rajee Mustafa, a 51-year-old electrical engineer from Jersey City, New Jersey.
[...]
'We stand alone in the globe in not condemning this act,' said Palestinian-American Mustafa. 'This is a terrorist act and I'm ashamed of the double standard. This double standard is bringing us hate from all the Arab world, the Muslim world.'
A memorial rally was scheduled later in the evening in the New York borough of Brooklyn to protest the killing of Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of Hamas.
At the evening rush-hour protest across from the consulate, demonstrators carried signs such as Sharon and Bush - War Criminals,' and raised chants including, 'Sheikh Yassin, rest in peace, Israel will never sleep.'
[...]
Samia Halaby, 67, an abstract painter and former college art professor, said she was sickened by the attack on Yassin.
'It was a murder, an assassination. It was illegal, it's immoral and typical of a fascist government. U.S. approval of such an action is disgusting.'"
-Reuters, 3/23/2004
"Sheikh Yassin's Mass-Murder Record
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Moslem Hamas terrorist organization who was killed yesterday in a daring Israeli missile attack, oversaw a total of 425 attacks - including the Park Hotel Seder massacre - that killed 377 Israelis and wounded 2,076.
Among the worst Hamas attacks in the past 3.5 years of the Palestinian Authority-initiated Oslo War were the following ten, which ended the lives of a total of 186 people:
June 1, 2001 - Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, 21 killed - mostly new-immigrant teenagers from the former Soviet Union
Aug. 9, 2001 - Sbarro's Pizzeria in Jerusalem, 15 killed, including the parents and three children of the Schijveschuurder family
Dec. 2, 2001 - Haifa bus, 15 killed
March 27, 2002 - Park Hotel in the midst of the Passover Seder, 30 killed, including six husband-and-wife couples
March 31, 2002 - Matza Restaurant in Haifa, 15 killed, including two sets of a father and two children
May 7, 2002 - Rishon Letzion hall, 16 killed
June 18, 2002 - #32 bus from Gilo, Jerusalem, 19 killed
March 5, 2003 - #37 bus in Haifa, 15 killed
June 11, 2003 - #14 bus, Jerusalem, 17 killed
Aug. 19, 2003 - #2 bus from Western Wall, 23 killed, including a mother and baby; father and son; and four other children"
-Israel National News, 3/23/2004
"I remember my first interview with him. It was winter 1988, during the initial intifadeh. With the help of an Arab journalist, I had tracked down his secret home in one of the countless alleys and warrens of Gaza. It was a cold, wet day, and the quadriplegic sheik, surrounded by a handful of his faithful, was huddled in his metal bed, all but buried beneath an enormous pile of blankets and comforters. Only his head stuck out.
Maybe that's why his speech was so particularly fiery that day and the message so chilling.
I remember asking him what Hamas' conditions were for peace and whether Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza would be the first step toward a settlement.
At first, I heard what was almost a giggle. Then his squeaky voice grew sharper and louder: 'Make no mistake, there will be no peace as long as there is a Zionist-Jewish state. Our holy goal is to liberate all of Palestine, and if the Jews do not go, they will die. All of Palestine is Islamic land - every inch.'
There it was - Yassin's spiritual philosophy in a nutshell.
It was the same the next time we met: No peace with Israel. That position never changed. It is still the core of Hamas policy, as well as of other terror groups like Islamic Jihad. They will never rest until Israel is destroyed."
-Column in New York Daily News and IsraelInsider.com, by Richard Chesnoff, two-time winner of the Overseas Press Club Award and a recipient of the National Press Club Award, former executive editor of Newsweek International and senior correspondent at US News & World Report.
Article Twelve: Hamas in Palestine, Its Views on Homeland and Nationalism
Hamas regards Nationalism (Wataniyya) as part and parcel of the religious faith. Nothing is loftier or deeper in Nationalism than waging Jihad against the enemy and confronting him when he sets foot on the land of the Muslims. And this becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman; a woman must go out and fight the enemy even without her husband’s authorization, and a slave without his masters’ permission. This [principle] does not exist under any other regime, and it is a truth not to be questioned[...]
Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences
[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; the nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its faith, the movement educates its members to adhere to its principles and to raise the banner of Allah over their homeland as they fight their Jihad[...] There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. The initiatives, proposals and International Conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility[...]
-Hamas Charter, written in 1988, via Palestine Center, a pro-Palestinian organization.