Giles Fraser
At dawn on 22 March, 2004, a half-blind paraplegic cleric was returning home after his prayers in the Mosque in Gaza City when he was assassinated by two low flying Israeli helicopters. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was the founder of Hamas, an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and its spiritual mentor. A few weeks later, Yassin’s successor, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, was himself assassinated in his car by another Israeli helicopter. The head had been cut off the snake. Much comment at the time was given to the ethics of such targeted assassinations. The British Foreign Secretary at the time, Jack Straw, called the Yassin assassination "unacceptable, unjust". Tony Blair called it a "setback" for the peace process.
But, ethics aside, how effective was it as a military strategy? I was in Gaza city later that year. A new Hamas leader was in place. Militancy was undimmed.
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