INDEPTH: MIDDLE EAST
Sheik Ahmed Yassin
CBC News Online | March 23, 2004
Sheik Ahmed Yassin (CP photo)
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To Palestinians, Sheik Ahmed Yassin was a symbol of angry resistance. To Israelis, he was a symbol of violence. Usually seen in public wrapped in a brown blanket and white headscarf, Yassin was the spiritual leader of Hamas, an organization that rejects the existence of Israel and the peace process.
"The purpose of every operation is to kill Jews," Hamas has stated, "for by killing Jews, all the Zionist settlers and their allies will be driven from the area."
In his thin, quavering voice, Yassin spent his days preaching Islam as the only way of life. He was revered by Palestinians as a holy warrior and given the title, "sheik of the intefadeh."
Yassin was born in a fishing village along the Mediterranean coast near the town of Ashkelon in what was then Palestine under British mandate. His age is not known; it's believed he was born in either 1929 or 1938. He moved to Gaza City in 1948 after being forced out of his village during the Arab-Israeli War.
A quadriplegic, he has used a wheelchair since an accident at the age of 12. Later in his life, Yassin suffered from muscular atrophy, chronic respiratory problems and loss of most of his sight.
Yassin studied Islam at Cairo's al-Azhar University, where he joined a Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood (Al-Ikhwan Al-Moslemoon, translating to the Society of Muslim Brothers). With 70 branches across the world, the Muslim Brotherhood rejects western influences and promotes Islam as a complete way of life.
Yassin's Hamas – an acronym for the Arab words for Islamic Resistance Movement – gained prominence in 1987 during the Palestinian intefadeh.
Israel banned Hamas in 1989. Canada, the United States and the European Union have since done likewise.
In 1989, Israel sentenced Yassin to life in prison for calling for the death of Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel, as well as for ordering the deaths of two Israeli agents.
He was released in 1997 by then-Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in exchange for two Israeli agents imprisoned in Jordan. In June 2003, Israeli government officials announced Yassin was a possible assassination target.
Yassin survived an attempt on his life that year when Israeli planes dropped a 250-kilogram bomb on a building where he was meeting other Hamas members. He was slightly injured.
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