Editing Ahmed Yassin (section)

=== 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>