Government says Hamas killing will worsen cycle of violence

12.00pm

The Government says the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin will worsen the cycle of violence in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said the killing would escalate violence in the short term in the area.

"Everyone knows that Hamas is an organisation that inspires young people mainly to go and out and commit terrible atrocities. On the other hand I think few would see taking out the leader of that movement as a step forward towards peace," Helen Clark said.

"In the short term it can only make matters worse."

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said less violence not more was the answer to peace between Palestine and Israel.

"We think that the extrajudicial execution of the Hamas spiritual leader will simply be counter productive. It will create another martyr. It will continue the cycle of violence in retaliation. It will further damage the already slender hopes of the road map promoted by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia being successful," Mr Goff said.

"The answer to finding peace in the Middle East is not further killing by either side, it's a readiness to have dialogue about the issues. Only in that way will you get security, only that way will you improve the economic conditions of both Israelis and Palestinians."

Mr Goff said the Government was not backing Hamas and never had.

"This man was a spiritual leader of a terrorist movement I have no words to say in defence of Hamas. We have repeatedly condemned Hamas."

Israel assassinated the Hamas leader yesterday, striking its heaviest blow against the Palestinian Islamic militant group behind dozens of suicide bombings and provoking threats of revenge.

Israeli security sources said prime minister Ariel Sharon ordered and monitored the helicopter attack on the paralysed cleric, whose wheelchair lay smashed in a pool of blood after three missiles exploded outside a Gaza mosque.

Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction, has killed hundreds of people in a decade of suicide attacks. Previous assassinations have triggered more bombings and deepened violence that has stalled US-backed peace moves.

Israel stepped up strikes against militants after suicide bombers killed 10 people at the port of Ashdod last week.

About 200,000 mourners attended a funeral procession for Yassin, in the biggest show of support for a Palestinian leader since Yasser Arafat's triumphant entry into the Gaza Strip in 1994.

Protests erupted in the West Bank and Gaza and Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including an 11-year-old and at least one gunman.

The EU criticised the "extrajudicial killing" but also recalled past EU condemnations of suicide bombings.

- NZPA