Quotes of the Day

On the night before the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, I had a nightmare about a terror attack on the Azrieli towers. In my dream, the two towers — buildings about 50 stories high in Tel Aviv — were hit by airplanes and collapsed, just like the World Trade Center. It's easy to see where the dream came from. I had planned to write, for this column, about how Israelis lead their lives under the threat of terror. I had also planned to go to the Azrieli towers — a 15-minute walk down my street — to give blood, then catch a movie. My subconscious put the two thoughts together and created a nightmare.

I woke up to a different kind of nightmare. Earlier that morning the Israeli Air Force, following a cabinet decision (to which two ministers had objected), killed Sheikh Yassin, the political and spiritual leader of Hamas.

I do not mourn Yassin. He was the founder and the leader of a terror organization. He had twisted religious belief into hate, violence and murderous acts. He had preached for the abolition of the Israeli state. He objected to any Jewish sovereignty on what he perceived to be Muslim land. He sent his people to kill me, my family, my friends and my neighbors, just for our mere existence.

Nevertheless his assassination infuriated me. I called some friends, and most of them shared my view: The killing of Yassin would not contribute anything to the fight against terror. If anything, it would cause a further escalation in the violence, would push more youngsters to join the ranks of the suicide bombers, would enable Hamas to appoint an even more extremist leader, and would mark Yassin as a martyr. My friends agreed with me that it might prove fatal for the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip (where Yasser Arafat's hold is already very weak), and that it might play into the hands — and the propaganda — of Islamic terror groups like al-Qaeda. The killing of Yassin will also turn the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — which is still largely a local affair — into a global, religious conflict. It would further harm the delicate relations between Jews and Muslims in Israel and it might encourage Hizballah to strengthen its cooperation with Hamas.But watching the international news channels, I was disappointed to see that none of the Palestinian representatives has suggested an equivalent point of view. They all condemned the assassination, which was inevitable, but not one of them condemned Yassin's way or his vision.

This may be because Hamas's support in the Palestinian street is growing — and the Palestinian Authority's is decreasing — leaving P.L.O officials in a delicate position. They are in no position to declare war on Hamas, because that would be perceived by the Palestinians as cooperating with Israel. But it still bothers me that they are not willing to offer even a hint of a conciliatory message. The Israeli peace camp, only now recovering from the blow of the al-Aqsa Intifadeh, will never be able to convince the Israeli public that the end of the occupation will bring peace, when even the Palestinian Authority is praising Yassin's legacy.

• MICHAL LEVERTOV
• The assassination of Sheikh Yassin will solve nothing, says columnist Michal Levertov