CNN.Com: Thousands mourn Hamas founder
“There will never be any kind of peace or stability. This crime this early morning in Gaza is a dangerous sign for everybody, and we urge the American administration to interfere immediately to stop this escalation because no one is going to win.”
–Nabil Abu Rudeneh, Arafat spokesman and adviser
“The way [Yassin] was assassinated by the Israeli Apache helicopters and while he was in the early morning praying, without even respect to any of the villagers and to the beliefs of the Palestinian people. This was condemned strongly in the [cabinet] meeting, and it’s been decided that we will go to the Security Council, the United Nations.”
–Ahmed Qorei, Palestinian prime minister
“It is absolutely ridiculous to allege that the man who cannot see, cannot hear and who is on a wheelchair can constitute a threat to the biggest military power in the Middle East and one of the biggest in the world. That’s absolutely nonsense.”
–Hasan Rahman, chief Palestinian representative to the United States
“I do condemn the targeted assassination of Sheikh Yassin. Such actions are not only contrary to international law, they do not do anything to help search for a peaceful solution. I appeal to all in the region to remain calm and avoid escalation in tensions.”
–Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary general
“The position of the European Union has been consistently a condemnation of … killings. In this particular case, I think a condemnation ought to be stronger. These types of actions do not contribute at all to create the conditions of peace, the conditions of dialogue, which are necessary at this moment.”
–Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief
“We understand Israel’s paramount needs to defend itself, but we also say for Israel to carry the full support of the international community it needs to do so within the boundaries set by international law. It’s been the long-standing position of the British government that such targeted killings, assassinations, are out with international law.”
–Jack Straw, British foreign secretary
And the statement from our [sic] fearless leader [/sic] is?
is? oh, you mean he still hasn’t said anything? Probably still getting coached on how to pronounce “Sheikh Yassin”.
Here you go:
“We are deeply troubled by this morning’s actions in Gaza.”
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan
“This event in creases tensions and does not help efforts to resume progress toward peace.”
-State Department spokesman Richard Boucher
From Reuters
Why were those not in any of the news articles I read?
I don’t know… I first saw the McClellan quote in a Yahoo news feed. But then I had to go searching to find an appropriate article to link.
And I must admit that the U.S. response has been more tempered than just plain condemnation (from looking at the whole article).