Europe Condemns Israel for Yassin Killing

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Palestinians Threaten Retaliation Against U.S.
By Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 22, 2004; 8:22 AM

Political leaders across Europe condemned Israel's killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin Monday while tens of thousands took to the streets in protest in the Middle East and militants threatened to retaliate against the United States as well as Israel.

Israel, meanwhile, defended the killing as part of its war against terrorism, saying that Yassin was plotting attacks against civilians in Israel. "This is the war against terror," Ruth Yaron, spokeswoman for the Israeli Defense Forces said in an interview broadcast on CNN. "This is the man who perfected the art of death, by sending human bombs into streets, into schools and killing children. For us Israelis, Ahmed Yassin was the embodiment of terror."

"It is very difficult for all countries fighting terrorism to take a measured response in the face of the kind of outrageous terrorism that Israel has suffered," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters as he was arriving for a European Union meeting in Brussels.

"But a measure of restraint is required and I don't believe that Israel will benefit" from killing an old man in a wheelchair.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14281-2004Mar22.html