OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: ISRAELI TERROR

Guardian: Killing Sheikh Yassin was a mistake
The assassination of Hamas' spiritual leader removes a crucial restraining force within the organisation and will have dangerous repercussions, argues Barak Barfi

In the strange world of Palestinian politics, Yassin was known as a moderate. Though he advocated violence and praised suicide bombers, he did not put faith in a military solution to the conflict. He often spoke of hundred-year truces between Israelis and Palestinians, or of a temporary cessation of hostilities that would grant de facto recognition of Israel.

These views pitted him against the hawkish side of the Hamas leadership in Gaza. Leaders such as Dr Abd al-Aziz Rantisi are dead set against any concessions or recognition of Israel and believe that if victory will not be achieved in their generation, it will come in future ones.

Yassin's death, on the heels of the assassination of Ismail Abu Shanab last August, leaves the Hamas leadership in the hands of these hardliners, who preach violence as the only way to solve the conflict. Abu Shanab was the most pragmatic of the Hamas executive and openly accepted an Israeli state. With both of them gone, no one will preach moderation in Hamas' inner circle.