Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi

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Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi bigraphy, stories - Hamas leader

Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi : biography

23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004

Abdel Aziz Ali Abdulmajid al-Rantisi ( ; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004) was the co-founder of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Rantisi was Hamas’s political leader and spokesman in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin in March 2004. Like most Hamas members, Rantisi opposed any compromise with Israel and called for the creation of a state of Palestine (including the whole of the State of Israel) through military exertion against the Jewish state.

On 17 April 2004, the Israeli Air Force killed Rantisi by firing Hellfire missiles from an AH-64 Apache helicopter at his car.

Leadership of Hamas

Rantisi’s four-week tenure as leader of Hamas was spent in hiding, once the public funeral for Ahmed Yassin, attended by large crowds, ended. During his leadership, Hamas carried out a single suicide bombing which killed an Israeli policeman. On the day of his death, 17 April 2004, he came out of hiding to visit his family in Gaza City, arriving before dawn and staying till the evening. Shortly after he left the house, he was killed. Khaled Masha’al became the leader of Hamas after his death.

Personal life

Rantisi was married to Rasha Al Adloni, who was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006. They have six children.

Quotations

"The Israelis will not know security. We will fight them until the liberation of Palestine, the whole of Palestine." ( , 22 March 2003)

"All the land of Palestine is a part of the Islamic faith and the Caliph Omar bin al-Khattab declared it for all Muslims. Therefore, no individual or group has the right to sell it or give it up." (, 9 January 1998)

"If Israel was established in Britain, would you accept compromise?", to a British journalist, June 1993.

"It is no longer a secret that the Zionists were behind the Nazis’ murder of many Jews, and agreed to it, with the aim of intimidating them and forcing them to immigrate to Palestine." to pro-Hamas Al-Risala, August 2003.

"We know Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam and the enemy of the Muslim people. America has declared war against God, Sharon declared war against God, and God has declared war against America, Bush and Sharon."

"It’s death whether by killing or by cancer; it’s the same thing. Nothing will change if it’s an Apache (helicopter) or cardiac arrest. But I prefer to be killed by Apache."

Early life and education

Rantisi was born in Yibna, near Jaffa on 27 October 1947. In 1948 Arab-Israeli War, his family fled to the Gaza Strip. In 1956, when he was nine, Israeli soldiers killed his uncle in the Khan Younis massacre: as he explained to Joe Sacco, this fact was very important for his future life. He studied pediatric medicine and genetics at Egypt’s Alexandria University, graduating first in his class. He was a certified physician. In his time in Egypt he became a deeply convicted member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1976, he returned to Gaza to teach parasitology and genetics at the Islamic University.

Expulsion and return

In December 1992, Rantisi was deported to southern Lebanon, as part of the expulsion of 416 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, and emerged as the general spokesman of the expellees. Upon his return in 1993, he was arrested, but later released. He was also detained many times over longer periods by the Palestinian Authority, for his criticism of the PA and of Yasser Arafat, the last time in mid-1999. When Rantisi returned to his public position as "right hand" to Yassin, he remained one of the main opponents to any cease-fire and cessation of attacks inside Israel. During talks among the Hamas leadership both in Gaza and abroad and in its constant contact with the PA regarding terror activity, Rantisi, together with Ibrahim Macadma, controlled the tone of the Hamas leadership.