US Civil Rights Leader to Meet Hamas Founder

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 31, 2002

US Civil Rights Leader to Meet Hamas Founder

U.S. civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson will meet on Wednesday with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance movement (Hamas), Hamas official said Tuesday.

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U.S. civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson will meet on Wednesday with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance movement (Hamas), Hamas official said Tuesday.

Isma'eel Haneya, an aide to Yassin told reporters here that Jackson would meet with Yassin and other Hamas leaders in Gaza during a visit that he would make to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

"Sheikh Yassin welcome the meeting and he would go for it," said Haneya, adding that "we in Hamas have no objection to openly meet any official as long as we will be able to express our movement's stand, and our people's suffering."

Haneya said that Yassin would explain to Jackson that "resistance against the occupation is a legitimate right of our people to get rid of the occupation according to the international laws and conventions."

It is the first time that a high-ranking US personality meets with Hamas leaders. However, Palestinians said that Jackson's decision to meet with Yassin aims at convincing him to stop suicidebombing attacks and go for peaceful protest against the occupation.

Jackson would begin a one-day visit to the Gaza Strip that has been closed since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, in September 2000.

Jackson will also meet with Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath in Gaza.

Palestinians said that Jackson will also meet with Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath in Gaza and visit the civilian building that was targeted last week by Israeli F16 warplanes, in which Hamas armed wing commander Salah Shehada was killed together with 9 children and 5 others.

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