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look at it another way.... you could compare the attitudes of many in palestinian controlled areas to those of the insurgents in iraq. in palestinian controlled areas however, they don't have this type of leadership and these types of massive attacks... because everytime someone sticks their head up, the isrealis kill them. that is the difference. that is the difference between having leadership with command and control abilities... the leadership to plan, coordinate, organize and execute major attacks. instead, in palestinian areas, you have idiots firing homemade rockets into settlements with zero effectiveness and an occasional suicide bomber killing a couple people.
will someone else take his place? doubtful. he was not well liked and did not have a lot of support. he was basically taken out by his own people. i think the whole "someone will take his place argument" is a little shortsighted since he was not a significant figure there anyway with the exception of the media attention he was able to generate.
no matter how anyone wants to look at it, fighting requires leadership. if there is constant pressure on leadership and they are constantly being killed, then there cannot be an effective fight. that is the value of putting constant pressure on and killing leadership.
is it a huge victory? not really. its a small PR victory maybe. but it is also a small victory in the sense that anyone wishing to stand up and take his place or become someone like him knows they can get taken out at any second and never see it coming. its a victory in the sense that it has been made clear that these types of people cannot opperate with impunity. its a victory in the sense that it is now clear that when you are beheading people and orchestrating mass bomb attacks, you will be hunted down and killed and you won't necessarily be enjoying the protection of locals or even that of your own people.
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