One of the leading Palestinian resistance fighters: Who is Sheikh Ahmet Yassin?

Sheikh Ahmet Ismail Hasan Yassin was born in 1936 in the village of El-Cura in the city of Ascalan, Palestine. When he was 3 years old, his father passed away and he was orphaned with his siblings. Their ancestral lands, which came out of the domination of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War and where they struggled to survive under the British Mandate, were occupied by the Israelis, who declared that they established a state in 1948. Ahmet Yasin, who became a refugee in his own land and immigrated to Gaza with his family, attended primary school at Imam Shafii School. Although he had to leave school from time to time due to financial difficulties, he graduated successfully.

Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (January 1937 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, a militant Islamist and Palestinian nationalist organization in the Gaza Strip, in 1987. He served as the organization's spiritual leader after its founding.

The year he graduated, he had an accident that would affect his whole life. During a swimming event on the Gaza beach, he fell on his head and could not use his arms and legs as his neck bone was broken. Being confined to a wheelchair did not make him give up and he continued his education. He studied at Er-Rihal Secondary School and Palestine High School. He went to Al-Azhar, the most important educational center of the region, and received training in Arabic Language and Islamic Sciences.

Ahmet Yasin, who worked as a teacher after returning to Gaza and came to the fore with his sermons, established the Gaza Islamic Center after the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in 1967, helping the families of martyrs, eliminating the education problems of the people, and fighting poverty. He started to take an active role in organizing organizations and developing awareness of resistance against the occupation and became known all over Palestine. He was arrested in 1982 on charges of founding an organization and possessing weapons, after being intimidated by the occupation administration frequently. Although he was sentenced to 13 years in prison, he was released in a prisoner exchange in 1985.

After gaining his freedom, he accelerated his work and in 1987, he took the Movement'ul Mukavemet'il Islamiyye (Islamic Resistance Movement) as the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which will continue to expand the work of the Islamic Center, and became its spiritual leader by being among the founders of the organization. The movement, known as HAMAS, was heard all over the world with the first intifada in 1987. Sheikh Ahmet Yasin, who was arrested again by Israel in 1989 after this resistance struggle, known as the war of stones and tanks, was brought to trial a few months later and tried for 15 different crimes; He continued his stance with the sentences "This court is completely illegitimate and illegal, it does not have the legal right and authority to try me because it was established by the occupiers". Ahmet Yasin, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, rejected all the terms of the agreement offered to him for his release, stated that he did not recognize the occupation administration, resisted torture, and was released in 1997, again through a prisoner exchange, after 8 years of imprisonment.

Sheikh Ahmet Yasin, who returned to Gaza after spending a few months in Amman, where he went for treatment, said that the Second Intifada, known as the Aqsa Intifada, started in September 2000 after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon entered the courtyard of the Masjid al-Aqsa under the protection of soldiers. assumed the leadership. During all these processes, he was subjected to assassination attempts many times but mostly escaped with minor injuries.

Sheikh Ahmet Yasin, who was performing the morning prayer in the Mecmeu'l Islamic mosque that he had built near his house in Gaza on March 22, 2004, was the target of missiles fired from Israeli helicopters as soon as he left the mosque. Two of the rockets hit his wheelchair. While 67-year-old Ahmet Yasin died in the attack, his two sons were injured. The intifada, which continued after his death, ended in 2005 and Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip.

In response to the questions asked by journalists about the terrorism accusation, “HAMAS is not a military organization but a humanitarian organization, a social movement based on service. Our goal is to save our land and take back our rights. If they describe what the defender of his land against the occupation is doing as terrorism, what will they describe the occupation itself as?” Sheikh Ahmet Yasin, who gave the answers, was seen as a great danger by Israel despite being old, sick, and severely disabled.