Periodical of this month : How do jihadists perceive the Hamas movement?
Abstract:
Jihadist groups have varying views on the Hamas movement and the Palestinian cause, with some supporting political and moral support while others focus on the liberation of Jerusalem and expulsion of the occupier. Some armed Islamic organizations, like the Islamic State, organize hostile media campaigns against the Hamas movement. They believe that establishing religion and implementing Sharia could lead to the declaration of the Caliphate outside the current international system. The other strategy related to Palestine is believed to contribute to the return of Islam as a prevailing ruling system. The absence of jihadist groups from participating in ongoing military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is due to factors such as peace agreements with the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian National Authority’s security role, and the conflict between the national component and the Islamic component.
Article:
Jihadists .. Out of Coverage
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Dr. Marwan Shehadeh
The positions of the “jihadist” groups varied towards the Hamas movement on the one hand, and on the other hand towards the Palestinian cause and the priority of participating in the liberation of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the occupier from it.
At a time when some armed Islamic organizations and groups and others were silent about shedding light on the ideological and intellectual differences at a time when the Palestinian people and the Hamas movement are being subjected to a war of extermination and crimes against humanity, carried out by Zionist war criminals and leaders of the Israeli army, and they were satisfied with providing political and moral media support, without being able to provide operational military support targeting the Zionist enemy, and this in itself is a somewhat positive position amidst the state of helplessness and weakness that has affected them following the continuation of the so-called “war on terror.”
On the other hand, other groups, such as the Islamic State, did not remain silent about what was happening, but rather organized several hostile media campaigns targeting the Hamas movement on the one hand, and the strategy of national or Islamic-national action, according to its classifications. It seemed to the observer that this organization was not concerned with liberating the first Qiblah of Muslims, or that those in charge of communication and media in the Central Media Office, which is responsible for all media materials issued, were unaware of the importance of the ongoing battle with the camp of falsehood led by the United States of America, which represents the West in general, and Israel represents its spearhead, considering that it is the protector of colonial interests in the entire Middle East region. Therefore, we must acknowledge that there is ideological competition in achieving the desired goals among the various Islamic groups. The first strategy for change is represented in establishing religion and what follows from it in terms of implementing Sharia and declaring the Caliphate, in any spot in the world, outside the framework of the current international system, which is unipolar, led by the United States of America. This strategy is marketed by its theorists from the Islamic groups with their legal justifications that focus on the establishment of religion taking precedence over the liberation of the occupied countries, despite their full awareness of the impossibility of establishing the caliphate according to the method of the Prophet in light of a brutal global system controlled by global Zionism, especially after the failure of those groups to embody a realistic vision of the “just” Islamic system of government, especially after the collapse of the “Islamic State” organization’s project in Islamic government, and providing a model for a system of government that can be described, at the very least, as not agreed upon from a legal perspective, terrifying in its dealings with everyone, and the absence of justice in the behavior of its individuals and leaders.
The other model that failed to manage the country, but rather tried to rule it with those who belong to the group or are completely allied with it, is the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt. The state of “Brotherhoodization” of the Egyptian state prompted a large segment of the people, as well as the security and military institutions, to reject this behavior and overthrow the status quo.
As for the other strategy related to Palestine, most Islamic groups believe that any effort directed towards liberating it contributes to the return of Islam to life, and by that I mean its return as a prevailing ruling system; because the front of the global system that is based on the policy of colonialism and direct and indirect occupation, can only be confronted by the unification of Arab and Islamic efforts, meaning through large resources that can confront this global arrogance and limit its frenzy that targets the country and its people.
The extremism of some groups is not without the fact that establishing religion and implementing Sharia precedes placing the priority of liberating Palestine at the top of the priorities of “jihadist” work or combat jihad.
In this article, we will try to answer the question that is being strongly raised these days by many Islamic, political and cultural circles: Where are the “jihadists” in the ongoing war on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip?
We have reviewed the intellectual differences related to the Hamas movement as the largest Palestinian faction leading the resistance to the Israeli occupation, to serve as an introduction to answering the question mentioned above.
It must be noted that listing the objective and subjective reasons for the absence of “jihadists” or armed Islamic groups from participating in the ongoing military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip comes to clarify this absence and not to defend the shortcomings of these groups. The following are some of the reasons that contributed to the absence of “jihadist” groups from the Palestinian scene:
– The peace agreements signed by some Arab countries with the Israeli occupation, especially since they include cooperation on issues that affect its security and are linked to planning to attack it militarily, contributed to limiting the growth of the capabilities of armed Islamic and national organizations that place targeting the Zionist enemy at the top of their activities. Rather, most of them were aborted due to the fact that these groups fail to maintain their structure in stable countries, unlike failed countries or those witnessing unrest and chaos.
– The security role played by the Palestinian National Authority’s apparatuses cannot be underestimated. Instead of assuming the responsibility of fighting corruption and building a self-reliant “state,” their efforts have been limited to absolute security cooperation with the Israeli occupation forces, and the arrest of politically, organizationally, and militarily active individuals. They have even gone so far as to provide accurate information about the activities of members of Palestinian factions that believe in armed resistance to the occupation, while living under the occupation without any powers that would enable them to defend their citizens.
– The control of the Palestinian national factions over the political, media and organizational scene within the occupied Palestinian territories, which helps block the path of various Islamic groups from practicing their advocacy, intellectual and organizational activities.
– The state of conflict between the national component represented by the Fatah movement and its allies – the Palestinian Authority – and the Islamic component represented by the Jihad and Hamas movements, so that everything Islamic has become targeted by the Palestinian security services, not to mention the Israeli pursuit of Islamic elements with their various intellectual tendencies.
– The Palestinian issue is strongly present in Islamic discourse in general, and in jihadist discourse in particular. We cannot forget the oath of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, when he said, “I swear by God Almighty who raised the sky without pillars, neither America nor those who live in America will dream of security before we experience it as a reality in Palestine.” Another statement was, “We are fighting in Iraq and our eyes are on Jerusalem.” No Al-Qaeda visual publication is devoid of a sentence that concludes with, “We are coming, O Al-Aqsa.” These slogans and presence are limited to the theoretical media level, and only a very limited number of individual actions have risen to the level of operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
– It is known that the Muslim Brotherhood was founded early in the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and this large spread among a wide segment of Palestinian youth helped the group organize a large number of them in its ranks, which contributed to blocking the path to the spread of jihadist ideas, but its ideas were and still are considered to be competitors to the Muslim Brotherhood, which fought those ideas from a religious perspective, and the organizational and military success of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip prevented the existence of any activities for those groups on the intellectual, advocacy, organizational and military levels, and those who belong to these ideas do not exceed dozens. – In general; It is undeniable that most of the incubating environments in Arab and Islamic societies fear the spread of the ideas of “jihadist” Islamic groups, which are considered extremist and hardline and do not deal with individuals, societies and countries with justice and tolerance, meaning that they are far removed from the slogans they raise, and that their behavior reflects the general state of aversion witnessed by societies. In other words, “jihadist” groups suffer from popular aversion as a result of their violent and hardline practices, which has led to their loss of social support in many Arab and Islamic countries.
– It seems that the security approach practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities and the security agreements that helped them with the Palestinian National Authority and neighboring countries in dealing with the ideology of the “jihadist” Islamic groups prevented their presence and the growth of their capabilities at all levels of advocacy, organization, security and military, and this approach falls within the factors that strongly affected the absence of the effectiveness of the “jihadist” groups.
The jihadist presence in the Palestinian context is still limited, and its causes lie in internal and external political and security complications, in addition to ideological and strategic contradictions within these groups. Regardless of the extent of the absence, the Palestinian issue remains present in the Islamic discourse, even at the theoretical level, without actual translation on the ground.
The absence of “jihadist” groups from the Palestinian battle reflects a deep strategic flaw in the priorities and methods of work of these groups. While the national and Islamic factions in Palestine continue to resist the occupation, the “jihadist” groups must review their orientations, in a way that ensures that the liberation of Jerusalem is among their practical priorities, and not only in their media discourse, so that they are now out of coverage.