Catholic World News News Feature
Vatican condemns killing of Hamas leader March 22, 2004
The Vatican has condemned the killing of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin, saying that such assassinations are "unjustifiable in any state of law."
Yassin was killed by an Israeli rocket, launched from a helicopter, as he left a mosque in the Gaza Strip on Monday morning.
In a statement released shortly after the killing, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls reminded the media of the words used by Pope John Paul II, in his January 12 to the Vatican diplomatic corps, regarding the struggle in the Holy Land. The Pope condemned "the recourse to terrorism on one hand and vendettas on the other." He insisted that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could not be settled by violence, and that "lasting peace can never be the fruit of a mere show of strength." On February 12, as he greeted Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei to the Vatican, the Pope again called for negotiations, saying that the residents of the Holy Land should reject the temptation toward vengeance and build "bridges, not walls."
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