"Fatah, the Popular Front, and Hezbollah are enemies that must be fought. The first two are secular, and the third is operating to spread Shia among Muslims. But we will not fight them now -- we will only fight the Jews." This, in short, is the doctrine of Abu Abdullah al-Ghazi, spokesman of the radical Islamic movement "Jaish al-Umma" (Army of the nation).According to reports in Arab media, the new organization, which is affiliated with the Salafist stream of fundamentalist Islam, is currently operating in the Gaza Strip, where it is laying its rots. Al-Ghazi claims that the organization already has over 200 fighters and thousands of supporters.
Al-Ghazi's remarks indicate a sign of growing trouble for Hamas in the kingdom it has built for itself in the Gaza Strip. The creation of individual cells of various extremist groups affiliated with the "World Jihad", an organization belonging to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, is becoming more and more widespread, and constitutes difficulty for the Hamas leadership, as such cells are comprised of armed operatives who are not obligated to obey Hamas, which is currently trying to maintain calm.
Even if the numbers mentioned by al-Ghazi are exaggerated, one can safely assume that there are currently at least dozens of activists affiliated with the World Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Some of them are Egyptian, while others are European converts to Islam, who have managed to infiltrate the Strip thanks to the smuggling tunnels.
| I assume it is against these people that the Israeli order of expulsion is aimed. |
| It is the Hand of Allah. Nothing can be done against the hand. |
A writer for the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, recently embarked with two of his colleagues on a mission to learn more about the organization, and said he made his way to al-Ghazi's hiding place in the Gaza Strip to interview him. The ideas voiced during the interview, based on widespread al-Qaeda world views, would not sit well with the Palestinians organizations, Hamas, or its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.