Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition strongly condemns the extra-judicial murder of Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi, the spiritual leader of The Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine, known by its acronym as HAMAS.

Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi, was murdered on the evening of 17 April 2004. In the attack on his car, two persons traveling with him, Akram Mansi Nassar, 36 and Ahmed ‘Abdullah al-Ghurra, 38 were also killed. A number of bystanders were also injured.

Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi was a pediatrician by training. He became a refugee from the village of Yebna, which Israel occupied in 1948. He lived in the Khan Younis camp in the Gaza Strip since his family fled when he was just six months old after the imposition of Israel in 1948. He became the spiritual leader of HAMAS after the murder of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on March 21, 2004. The murders of both Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi and Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, like 200 other similar extrajudicial executions carried out by Israel, have been strongly condemned by the international community and human rights groups across the globe as violations of international law and as war crimes. These horrific acts further show that Israeli leaders are only interested in perpetuating violence through state-sponsored terrorism to avoid having to address the root cause of the conflict: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

We extend our condolences to the Palestinian people, our brothers and sisters in this struggle. We also urge the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah to reject all edicts, declarations and agreements that fall short of implementing of the inalienable right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their original homes and lands.

We call on all people of conscience to demand: