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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Backgrounder: Al Qaeda-inspired groups in Gaza | |
| 2012-04-23 | |
Here are some facts about the constellation of ultra-conservative Islamists known as Salafis, who have challenged Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' rule in the isolated enclave. Groups -- Jaysh al-Islam (the Army of Islam) is closely linked to Gazoo's powerful Doghmush clan, which worked with Hamas to capture Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 but broke with it over the Doghmushes' four-month kidnap of a BBC journalist in 2007. -- Tawheed and Jihad (One God and Holy War), linked by Gazook sources to the obscure "Jihadist Salafi" group, that in April kidnapped and killed a pro-Paleostinian activist from Italia, Vittorio Arrigoni. Tawheed and Jihad also praised an August attack by infiltrators that killed eight Israelis on the Egyptian border. Israel blamed that raid on the Paleostinian cut-thoat faction Popular Resistance Committees, killing five of its members in retaliation. The PRC denied involvement. -- Ansar al-Sunna (Followers of al-Sunna, the words and deeds of the Prophet Mohammad), which carried out a lethal rocket attack on Israel last year and whose name had been used by, among others, al Qaeda-allied Sunni gunnies in Iraq. -- Jund Ansar Allah (Warriors of God), which raided an Israeli border post on horseback. -- Jaysh al-Ummah (Army of the Moslem Nation), whose leader, Abu Hafs, was jugged by Hamas. -- Jaljalat (Rallying Cry), which includes former Hamas members and is suspected of bombing several Internet cafes as part of its especially hard line against Paleostinian "apostates". How do Salafis differ from Hamas Islamists? -- The Salafis, whose diffuse networks may be designed to evade Hamas crackdowns, share the goal of fighting Western powers and founding a purist Islamic state across the Middle East. Though Hamas echoes al Qaeda's calls to destroy Israel, its ambitions are framed within Paleostinian nationalism and include political accommodation with secular rivals and a possible truce with the militarily superior Israel. Hamas has refrained from imposing sweeping Islamic law since taking over Gazoo in 2007 and has condemned al Qaeda attacks abroad. -- Membership of the Salafi groups appears to number in the hundreds but with potentially thousands of supporters among Gazoo's 1.5 million population. They have been reinforced by volunteers who slip in through the neighboring Egyptian Sinai, where security has eroded amid political upheaval in Cairo. -- Hamas, which won a parliamentary election in 2006, has some 25,000 men under arms in Gazoo. There has been disillusion with its rule and an Israeli-led embargo which has ravaged the economy. Hamas has been publicly tolerant of Salafis, saying they are misguided and offering them "re-education". But in practice it has often tried to rein in Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... intent on provoking Israel with cross-border attacks or violently undermining Hamas authority. In the bloodiest confrontation, Hamas forces stormed a mosque in the southern border town of Rafah in August 2009 after a Jund Ansar Allah preacher and leader, Abdel-Latif Moussa, publicly declared Gazoo to be an Islamic emirate. -- Among other Salafi complaints about Hamas are its tolerance of Gazoo's 3,000-strong Christian community and the backing Hamas receives from Shi'ite Iran. Most Paleostinians, including Hamas members, are Sunnis. Salafis are also blamed for attacks on people and groups they see as defying religion, including Internet cafes. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 And, as long as they do a lot of killing, Allan will forgive them some lapses in (other aspects) of piety. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-23 02:28 |
| #1 "...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them.." actually, their piety gives them not just a right, but a duty to tell others; and not just to tell others but to force others how to do it |
| Posted by: lord garth 2012-04-23 00:39 |