Some interesting info on the Dagmush/Hamas conflict. The blog, Conflict Blotter, is written by Charles Levinson, a journalist who has been based in Jerusalem since May 2006, and in Baghdad and Cairo since 2002.
Dagmush-Hamas tensions rising
July 2nd, 2007 · 1 Comment
Tensions between Hamas and Alan Johnston's captors seem to be coming to a head. Early Monday morning Hamas nabbed Army of Islam spokesman Khattab al-Maqdissi. Hamas said they grabbed him after he opened fire on members of the Executive Force. The Army of Islam said he was leaving dawn prayers.
A few hours later the Dagmush-controlled Army of Islam shot back, reportedly kidnapping 10 Hamas members, all students at the Islamic University in Gaza City. They warned they had damning video tapes that would bring shame to certain Hamas members. Hamas then announced it had begun arresting people responsible for kidnapping Johnston (see post below).
The Army of Islam has accused Hamas of killing one or perhaps two of its members in the past week. Hamas has reportedly surrounded the Dagmush controlled Al Sabra neighborhood and is checking everybody coming and going.
The BBC and British government continue to council restraint, but Hamas' post-putsch swagger may have a mind of its own. The movement is being made to look like chumps by the Dagmush clan, which is undermining Hamas' attempts to restore order in Gaza. If the Dagmush clan and the Army of Islam can stand up to Hamas with impunity, Hamas may start to look like something of a paper tiger to other Gaza clans, the last thing Hamas wants.
Interview with Momtaz Dagmush
July 2nd, 2007 · 1 Comment
The latest issue of Sada al Jihad (The Echo of Jihad) a sprodically published Jihadi magazine put out by the Global Islamic Media Front includes a five page interview with Momtaz Dagmush. I've done a very quick and rough translation of the most interesting parts, including Momtaz's denial that the Dagmush family has any connection with the Army of Islam and his recounting of his path from being an officer in the Preventative Security Services, to the Muslim Brotherhood, and finally to the proper Salafi way. You can download the entire issue of Sada al Jihad here. The Dagmush interview is on pages 36-41.
The interviewer relates a lot of pretty nasty accusations and I wonder whether he is purely lobbing the questions out there to allow Momtaz the opportunity to clear his name, or whether they reflect serious misgivings about Momtaz inside the Jihadi community.
I'm no expert at disecting Jihadi discourse, but I can't help but coming away with the impression that this guy is a poser or at the very least an illiterate thug with a weak grasp of jihadi scholarship. He repeats the same hadith and Koranic verses in the course of answering the questions, which to me suggests he has a limited number of such sayings at his finger tips.
The Army of Islam announced the capture of the Christian British Journalist Alan Johnston in an attempt to release prisoners held in the Crusader British prison, first among them the Sheikh Abu Amr (Abu Qatada). No sooner had they announced this than a media campaign was launched to sully the image of this Jihadi organization. Despite the clarity of their demands, the Palestinian government made false claims about them in the media aimed at sowing doubt in the path of the Army of Islam.
So in order to obtain what's true from these media reports and these salacious rumors about this Salafi Jihadi group spread by people from Hamas, Fatah, and Palestinian government, the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) conducted this interview in Gaza City with the Sheikh Momtaz Dagmush (MD), one of the leaders of the Army of Islam
GIMF: Introduce yourself please to your masses who love the Army of Islam.
MD: The poor servant of Allah, Momtaz Ibn Mohammad Dagmush (Abu Mohammad), one of the field commanders in the Army of Islam.
GIMF: Did you work in Jihad before forming the Army of Islam?
MD: Yes, praised be to Allah.
GIMF: Your admirers wonder, does the Army of Islam represent a complete organization with a Shura Council, and Sharia Body, and other such components of a Jihadi group?
MD: Yes, praised be to Allah.
GIMF: Did you cooperate and coordinate with other Jihadi factions in your fight before forming the Army of Islam? If there was cooperation and coordination already, why does Palestine need a new organization? Why didn't you join one of the Jihadi organizations that already existed?
MD: When we saw that they were doing what is righteous, we were coordinating with them in a number of respects. But after they strayed from the path of Allah, we limited the coordination to purely military matters. And when they strayed further there was no longer between us any coordination to speak of.
As for forming the Army of Islam, it comes because there is no proper banner for the faithful to fight beneath, and so God merciful agreed that the brothers would found the Army of Islam.
GIMF: There are those who hurl accusations against the Army of Islam and attack you personally. There are accusations that you steal cars in the Gaza Strip and those who say that you are the leader of a gang who works for whoever pays you. What is your reaction to these accusations?
MD: The matter is clear to those who seek the truth. There is an intentional effort to blur the lines between me as an individual, the Army of Islam and my family. Everybody knows without any doubt that there is no connection between the Dagmush family and the Army of Islam, except for the fact that one of the leaders of the Army of Islam is a man from the Dagmush family.
For people to make conclusions based on suspicion and accusations without evidence, this is not the values of the Muslims. I am here, calling on everybody who makes these accusations to bring their evidence if they're telling the truth.
As for the accusation that we steal cars this is baseless and false. In the coming days, God willing, the complete truth will be exposed.
As for the accusation that we work for whoever pays us, there is no one who pays more than Allah, great be he.
GIMF: There are those who accuse you of collaborating with the traitor Mohammad Dahlan and some of the members of Fatah. They say that shared in their corruption and that now you hide behind the cloak of religion to hide your past misdeeds.
MD: How can the person who says "there is no God" meet with the one who says "My God is Allah"? We work according to the Koranic verse that says: "Fight the infidels for they have no faith, so make them disappear." As for the accusation of hiding behind the cloak of religion to achieve personal goals, this is a total lie. Thank God I was liberated by my commitment to Islam, inside and out, and I ask God for acceptance.
GIMF: There are those that say the Sheikh Momtaz Dagmush receives money and funding from the leadership of Fatah. What is the truth of these words?
MD: This is a lie with no basis in truth. Those who make these accusations shold prove it with evidence. This is regarding the Army of Islam. As for the past, when I was an official in the Nasser Salaheddin Brigades (armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees), then I was receiving a each month an amount of money close to $27,000 for work in Jihad and military operations.
GIMF: Also among the accusations, it is said that you can't read or write, so how can you be a leader?
MD: … The nation (umma) has known Muslim leaders who couldn't read or write, but they had faith and worked …. but I say to you, thank God, I know how to read and write.
GIMF: In the past have you worked in the Palestinian Authority or in Fatah? And how do you view your past now?
MD: Yes, I worked in the Palestinian Authority since 1997 in the Preventative Security Services. I wasn't at that time on the path. The Palestinian Ulama weren't taking a clear stance on the Authority and the legal rulers connected to it. During my work in prison I got to know the Sheikh Rabah Zaqout, may he rest in peace, the military commander from the Ezzedine al Qassam Brigades. I asked him his opinion on leaving the Authority and he said to me if you left there will come another in your place who will be bad to us and who will not serve Islam.
Maybe that made him trust me, for he told me that I should take an oath of loyalty to the Muslim Brotherhood. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood at that time was Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, God rest his soul, and I took an oath of fealty to the Shiekh under the banner of the Muslim Brotherhood.
And when the Al Aqsa Intifada erupted and ranks formed, I left the Preventative Security Services and left my work in the Palestinian Authority completely and severed my relationship with Fatah and the Authority from the first moment of the uprising. I began working with the Popular Resistance Committees. We were like … the strike force for Hamas.
Things became clearer when Hamas stepped into the parliamentary elections, and that showed that this movement had stopped worshipping God. I wondered how is it possible for a movement that claims to be Islamic to compete in lawmaking with God. After this we moved toward the proper Salafi path that most pleases God and thank God we asked for knowledge and we formed the Army of Islam.
GIMF: We come now to the accusation that there are those in the Army of Islam who neglect their prayers and who are never seen without a cigarette in their hands or in their mouths. What do you say to that?
MD: This is a blatant lie, because the members of the Army of Islam work in total secrecy because of the security situation in the Gaza Strip.
GIMF: It is said that members of the Army of Islam work in the Presidential Guard and that they receive salaries from the National Security that reaches millions of dollars. Most recently, one month ago they received close to four million dollars from the Authority. Is that true?
MD: The sons of the Army of Islam don't work in the Presidential Guard and the idea that we receive millions of dollars is totally ridiculous. If this was true then we would have paid back the debts that the Army owes.
GIMF: What is the secret behind the Army of Islam's not taking any actions against the Jews and the infidels?
MD: We don't announce many of the operations and we will continue this for many personal reasons. As for the future, will God has created things you don't about.
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