Editing Ahmed Yassin (section)

==Views==
===Involvement in attacks on Israel===
{{See also|List of Hamas suicide attacks}}
Yassin was a founder and leader of Hamas, which is regarded as a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Paraguay, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Boffey |first=Daniel |date=2017-07-26 |title=EU court upholds Hamas terror listing |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/26/eu-court-upholds-hamas-terror-listing |access-date=2023-12-17 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=26 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726104628/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/26/eu-court-upholds-hamas-terror-listing |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="terr">* Also:  Banned in [[Jordan]]—Karmi, Omar. [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=22307 "What does the Hamas victory mean for nearby Jordan?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004175933/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=22307 |date=4 October 2009}}, ''The Daily Star'', 18 February 2006
* Australia lists the militant wing of Hamas, the [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]], as a terrorist organization--[http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/agd/www/nationalsecurity.nsf/AllDocs/95FB057CA3DECF30CA256FAB001F7FBD?OpenDocument Listing of Terrorist Organisations] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204040731/http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/agd/www/nationalsecurity.nsf/AllDocs/95FB057CA3DECF30CA256FAB001F7FBD?OpenDocument |date=4 February 2014 }}, Australian Government Attorney-General's Department, 27 January 2006; retrieved 31 July 2006.
* United Kingdom lists the militant wing of Hamas, the [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]], as a terrorist organization--[http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/legislation/current-legislation/terrorism-act-2000/proscribed-terrorist-groups?version=1 " United Kingdom Home Security Office. Terrorism Act 2000. Proscribed terrorist groups]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Israeli Prime Minister [[Ariel Sharon]] characterized Yassin as the "mastermind of Palestinian terror" and a "mass murderer".<ref name=csm /> The [[Israeli government]] repeatedly asserted that Yassin was responsible for a number of terrorist attacks, which targeted and killed civilians.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2004/3/Behind%20the%20Headlines-%20Ahmed%20Yassin%2022-Mar-2004 |title=Behind the Headlines: Ahmed Yassin 22-Mar-2004 |publisher=Mfa.gov.il |access-date=11 June 2010 |archive-date=20 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220105932/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2004/3/Behind%20the%20Headlines-%20Ahmed%20Yassin%2022-Mar-2004 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1997, Yassin proposed a halt of attacks on Israel, if Israel withdrew from the [[West Bank]] and Gaza.<ref>{{cite book|last=Filiu|year=2014|title=Gaza: A History|page=243|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref>

In his statement Yassin declared that Hamas did target Israeli civilians, but only in direct retaliation for the death of Palestinian civilians. In his thinking this was a necessary tactic to "show the Israelis they could not get away without a price for killing our people."<ref>{{cite web |first=Faisal |last=Bodi |title=My Meeting with Sheikh Yasin |work=Al Jazeera |language=en |date=25 March 2004 |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/3/25/my-meeting-with-shaikh-yasin |access-date=26 June 2024}}</ref> In June 2003, after visiting al-Rantisi in hospital after a failed Israeli missile attack against him, Yassin told reporters: "Israel is targeting Palestinian civilians, so Israeli civilians should be targeted. From now on, all Israeli people are targets." "We got Israel's message. They should now expect the answer."<ref name = "mmr2003jun">{{Cite web |url=https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-196566/ |title=Chronological Review of Events Relating to the Question of Palestine |publisher=United Nations Division for Palestinian Rights |date=June 2003 |access-date=1 November 2023 |archive-date=15 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215094732/https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-196566/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Views on Jews ===
In an interview, likely recorded in the 1990s, Ahmed Yassin stated his view on Jews:

{{cquote|"We don't hate Jews and fight Jews because they are Jewish. They are a people of faith and we are a people of faith, and we love all people of faith. If my brother, from my own mother and father and my own faith takes my homes and expels me from it, I will fight him. I will fight my cousin if he takes my home and expels me from it. So when a Jew takes my home and expels me from it, I will fight him. I don't fight other countries because I want to be at peace with them, I love all people and wish peace for them, even the Jews. The Jews lived with us all of our lives and we never assaulted them, and they held high positions in government and ministries. But if they take my home and make me a refugee like 4 million Palestinians in exile? Who has more right to this land? The Russian immigrant who left this land 2000 years ago or the one who left 40 years ago? We don't hate the Jews, we only ask for them to give us our rights."<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.aljazeera.net/blogs/2017/12/18/%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%88%D9%88%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9 |script-title=ar:فلسطين.. ووهم أسلمة الصراع! |language=ar |date=18 December 2017 |work= Al Jazeera |access-date= 1 December 2023 |archive-date= 26 February 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240226023131/https://www.aljazeera.net/amp/blogs/2017/12/18/%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%88%D9%88%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9 |url-status= live }}</ref>}}

In a 1997 speech, Yassin said:<ref>{{cite news|title=Sheik Vows to Continue the Hamas Holy War Against Israel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/23/world/sheik-vows-to-continue-the-hamas-holy-war-against-israel.html|work=[[New York Times]]|date=1997-10-23|access-date=1 January 2024|archive-date=1 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101200525/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/23/world/sheik-vows-to-continue-the-hamas-holy-war-against-israel.html|url-status=live|first=Serge |last=Schmemann}}</ref>
{{cquote|I want to proclaim loudly to the world that we are not fighting Jews because they are Jews! We are fighting them because they assaulted us, they killed us, they took our land, our homes, our children, our women, they scattered us, we became scattered everywhere, a people without a homeland. We want our rights. We don't want more. We love peace, but they hate the peace, because people who take away the rights of others don't believe in peace. Why should we not fight? We have our right to defend ourselves.}}

=== Views on the peace process ===
Yassin's views on the [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process|peace process]] between the Palestinians and the [[Israel]]is were ambiguous. He supported armed resistance against Israel and asserted that [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] is an Islamic land "consecrated for future Muslim generations until [[Qiyamah|Judgment Day]]" and that no Arab leader had the right to give up any part of this territory.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gunning |first=Jeroen |title=Hamas in Politics |year=2009 |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=26}}</ref> Concerning that territorial conflict, Yassin's rhetoric did not distinguish between Israelis and Jews, at one point stating that "reconciliation with the Jews is a crime."<ref>{{cite interview |last=Yassin |first=Ahmed |subject-link=Ahmed Yassin |work=Filastin al-Muslimah |date=March 1995 |title=Interview}} as quoted in {{cite web |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/2885 |title=Hamas Takes "Revenge"? |access-date=26 June 2024 |last=Passner |first=Deborah |date=28 October 2003 |publisher=[[Arutz Sheva|Israel National News]] |archive-date=23 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023072305/https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/2885 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, he regarded them as his religious cousins, stating that his conflict with them is purely over land he deemed stolen territory.<ref>{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKa1kRWX0AA | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121192724/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKa1kRWX0AA| archive-date=2012-11-21 | url-status=dead|date=31 January 2009 |website=[[YouTube]] |title=Ahmad Yassin – Why Hamas fight |publisher=Muslim 333}}</ref> 

Yassin's rhetoric was often scrutinized in the news media.<ref name=media>{{cite book |author1=Poole, Elizabeth |author2=Richardson, John E. |title=Muslims and the News Media |date=2006 |page=112}}</ref> On one occasion, he opined that Israel "must disappear from the map."<ref name=media /> Yassin's declaration that "We chose this road, and will end with martyrdom or victory" later became a repeated mantra among Palestinians.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/security-forces-on-heightened-terror-alert-1.117564 |title=Security forces on heightened terror alert |first=Amos |last=Harel |author2=Arnon Regular |date=22 March 2004 |work=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=26 June 2024 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012120718/https://www.haaretz.com/news/security-forces-on-heightened-terror-alert-1.117564 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Yassin on several occasions proposed long-term ceasefire agreements, or truces, so called ''[[hudna]]s'', in exchange for Israeli concessions. All such offers were rejected by Israel. Following his release from Israeli prison in 1997, he proposed a ten-year truce in exchange for total Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, including [[East Jerusalem]], and Gaza and a stop to Israeli attacks on civilians. In 1999, in an interview with an Egyptian newspaper, he again offered a truce:<ref name = "pop">{{Cite web |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/hamas-ceasefire-proposal-peace-or-pause |title=Hamas Ceasefire Proposal: Peace or Pause? |website=The Washington Institute |access-date=22 March 2021 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016003339/https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/hamas-ceasefire-proposal-peace-or-pause |url-status=live |date=16 March 2004}}</ref>
{{blockquote|We have to be realistic. We are talking about a homeland that was stolen a long time ago in 1948 and again in 1967. My generation today is telling the Israelis, 'Let's solve this problem now, on the basis of the [[1967 borders]]. Let's end this conflict by declaring a temporary ceasefire. Let's leave the bigger issue for future generations to decide.' The Palestinians will decide in the future about the nature of relations with Israel, but it must be a democratic decision.<ref name="pop"/>}}It was shortly after once such truce offer, in January 2004, that Yassin was assassinated.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kimmerling, Baruch |title=Clash of Identities: Explorations in Israeli and Palestinian Societies |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=2008 |page=299}}</ref>