Now that the "Godfather" is dead, the various would-be "dons" are going to fight it out.
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Last update - 03:53 15/12/2004
Leading Hamas preacher warns of clash with Islamic Jihad
By Arnon Regular
A growing rift between Hamas and Islamic Jihad has led to a break in cooperation between the two groups, and is threatening to lead to an all-out clash between them, according to a leading Hamas preacher who recently slammed Jihad for trying to outmuscle Hamas.
"There was a time when there were more Islamic Jihadists than us, but now we are more than them, but nonetheless they have managed to take over the media and to get ahead of us, and are now intensively competing with us," said Fathi Hamad, a member of the Sura Council, the supreme Hamas religious body in Gaza responsible for the the organization's communications system in Gaza.
"An Islamic Jihad takeover would means the Shi'ites take over, and if that happens you will all be turned into heretics .... We must fight and clash with all those who are not Sunni and guarantee our faith remains pure."
Hamad have his speech a couple of months ago before a few dozen Hamas activists working in the organization's Communications Councils, whose job is to promote Hamas in the Palestinian, Arab and international press.
Hamad believed that he was speaking in a private closed forum, but the session was filmed and then distributed - a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz - sparking a dispute between the two groups. They have now cut off ties between them and have ceased cooperation, and the clash between the two Islamic fundamentalist groups is shaking up both organizations.
For years they worked side by side, more or less in harmony. During the intifada they even began cooperating militarily and claimed joint responsibility for many attacks in Gaza. But Hamad is now hinting that Islamic Jihad wants to take Hamas' place, and is citing Iraq as an example.
"Wherever Jihad fighters fought, Muslims, meaning Sunni Muslims like Hamas showed up, and then the hypocritical Sh'iites came and sat down on the chairs that became available. This is an American, Zionist, Arab Shiite plot," he said.
Hamad was saying that Islamic Jihad is financed and run by Hezbollah and Iran, the Shiite heretics according to Sunni Islam. He said the Islamic Jihad has no right to operate in the Palestinian street on ideological grounds, and pointed out that despite the Hamas' hegemony in the street, the Jihad had managed to take over "the agenda" and the media by putting its people in key jobs in the press. He called for a "media jihad," meaning getting into important Arab and Palestinian media outlets.
Hamad's talk forced an apology from senior Hamas activists to the Arab press working in Gaza, whom Hamad had accused of serving the Jihad and the Palestinian Authority.
Hamad's speech on tape opens a rare window into the balance of power inside the Gaza Strip, including Hamas relations with the PA and how it motivates its activists in the street. But more than anything, the tape shows how frustrated Hamas is that despite being by far a larger organization than Islamic Jihad, in the press, at least, they are presented as equally important.
Hamad opened his lecture with "the media is the decisive weapon," and then delivered a series of examples from the life of Mohammed the Prophet and how his sermons to his warriors determined battles. But the Hamad speech quickly turned to the subject of the Islamic Jihad.
"We outnumber them, we have many more mosques, and much more commitment, but they are ahead of us in the satellite TV stations, and their Web sites are much bigger than the group itself. They are stealing attacks from Hamas, exaggerate the number of their killed, and inflate the numbers of their street demonstrations as if they are a domestic group, even though they are supported by Hezbollah. The media has turned them into the equals of the Muslim Brotherhood," Hamad complains in the tape.
He labels specific Palestinian reporters working in Gaza, saying an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza, Wa'al Dahduah, is a Jihad supporter, as is Imad Eid, the Hezbollah TV correspondent in Gaza. Hamad said that Walid Alomri, the senior Al Jazeera correspondent in the territories, is a Fatah man "with a burning hatred for Hamas, and he reports tendentiously in favor of the PA."
Hamad says on tape that Hamas man Faiz Abu Smala works for the BBC, "and that way he writes the story in favor of the Islam and Muslims."
Beyond the issue of the media, there is an ideological abyss between Hamas and Islamic Jihad. While Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, believes in social activity to educate society and create an Islamic rule, the Islamic Jihad has always believed in a violent campaign to take over power centers, and its social activities were marginal. But in the last year the Islamic Jihad changed direction and began undertaking social activities in Gaza.
Three months ago, armed Islamic Jihad men took over Al Qassam mosque, a Hamas stronghold, by force, and the takeover led to armed clashes between men from both groups. Thus, Hamad complains in the tape, "the Islamic Jihad ignited our spirit of resistance when it took away our mosque, and there is a danger they will try to take over others."
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