Palestine and Israel: The ring of terror tightens

[bemildred]

As discussed earlier in this series of articles, the entry of Sunni mujahideen from Iraq into Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon has been a fairly visible process and tracking it - at least in outline form - is an achievable task.

Likewise, the goal of the mujahideen from Iraq has been clear: (a) to spread Salafi beliefs in the Levant countries and (b) to place fighters as close to Israel as possible. These Salafi Islamists are, in essence, trying to create a space where they can begin to operate inside Israel. Whether they succeed in that goal is an open question, but their intent is clear.

The bleed-through from Iraq also is having some impact in the Palestinian territories - especially Gaza - and in Israel. In these theaters, of course, access to Israeli targets already is assured, and so the emphasis of the newly arrived mujahideen and a number of in-place Israeli Arabs seems to be to build a foothold from which Salafism can be preached and have a chance to grow among the populace.

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While it appears that the Salafists are having limited success in recruiting Hamas members, an Arab writer has issued a timely reminder that the inflow of Salafists from Iraq is undoubtedly going to have a negative impact on all of the Levant. "Salafis have not yet taken root in Palestine," Urayb al-Rintawi wrote last September:

However, who had expected to see demonstrations in Beirut of men and women whose appearance is similar to their co-religionists in Qandahar and Peshawar? If the Salafi tide is possible in Lebanon it is likely it will not be impossible in the hungry and blockaded Gaza Strip. Those who blockaded Gaza to take revenge on Hamas and champion Fatah could one not-too-distant day see that their reprehensible deed has only led to bring al-Qaeda and draw fundamentalist organizations that are more extreme than both the hawks of Hamas and the militants of Islamic jihad.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL25Ak01.html

[madeline_con]

1. "... fundamentalist organizations that are more extreme

than both the hawks of Hamas and the militants of Islamic jihad."

From the article:

As the Salafists in Gaza began to preach and attract followers there appears to have been an implicit understanding reached between the Salafist leaders and Hamas. The deal allowed the Salafists to train fighters, attack Israeli targets, and preach in Gaza as long as they did not engage in Gaza's internal political system and did not try to impose their ideology by force on Palestinians.

This has been an unstable deal at best; even as the Salafists acquiesced to Hamas' terms, they declared their belief that "Hamas does not implement the rule of God on earth, and does not enforce any ruling of the Islamic Sharia".

Oh, this sounds like it's gearing up to ba an interesting 2009. :(

[bemildred]

2. Yep, that light at the end of the tunnel is a train. nt

[azurnoir]

3. Isolation working at its best

time to try something new maybe?