(Here is yet another reason to question the "commonsense" narratives about Israel having no alternatives, so that it must resort to trying to destroy its enemies. Hasn't worked in the past. And will only get worse in the future. Sound familiar? - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
Gabreile Marranci writes in an otherwise problematical 'pox-on-both-houses" post about Hamas:
Unfortunately, many Muslims live with a myth of Hamas as the 'freedom fighter' but are simultaneously ignorant of Hamas as capable of being power-money hungry, abusing human rights, exerting excessive control over private life, and even oppressing innocent Palestinians. Many Muslims see Hamas as a unitary, monolithic paladin of Palestinian rights. It is not.
Having noted that however, it's a good idea to get a closer look at what will replace Hamas if Israel succeeds in destroying it. Many commenters at Open Left have asserted that over the course of Palestinian history each leadership movement that Israel undermines is replaced by something worse.
The new rising movement in Gaza is the Salafi-Wahhabists. In the Haraatz article quoted below from June 2008, their numbers in Gaza are currently estimated to be about 40,000 to 50,000. Many Salafis may be extremely religious though law-abiding and peaceful, but out of this group is forming a violent movement that admires Al-Qaeda, seeks to imitate it and make an alliance. Enemy-formation propaganda on the part of Israel tells us Hamas is the worst of the worst as far as religious fanaticism, but a closer look at the Salafi extremists and their militant organization Army of Islam shows them to be far worse.
The salafis do not watch television at home. Their wives have to cover themselves from head to foot. They may not hang large pictures or display statues in their homes, and they pray frequently. Hamas knows they represent an alternative to its monopoly over religion in the Gaza Strip, which has led to great tension between the salafis and Hamas over control of the mosques.
Violent brawls have broken out over attempts by Hamas to throw salafis out of the mosques where they have managed to take control. Another problem for Hamas is the salafis' avoidance of politics, which makes Hamas look like a gang of power-hungry politicians, especially in light of its mistakes over the past year: the violent takeover, torture and corruption.
But a more tangible threat for the rulers of Gaza is from other groups loosely linked to the sect, which are known collectively as A-salafiyeh al-Jihadiyeh. These extreme groups identify with salafi religious principles but dispute the principle of remaining aloof from political, military and diplomatic involvement.
The best-known of these groups are the Army of Islam and the Army of the Nation. Their ideology recalls the teachings of Al-Qaida, and they flaunt their connections with the latter. While the Army of Islam is clan-based and mainly connected to the Durmush family, the Army of the Nation is gathering numbers largely from people cast out by Hamas and Islamic Jihad because of their extremism.
The Haraatz article has asserted a distinction without a difference between the Army of Islam and the Army of the Nation; they are the same movement. Army of Islam (AOI) is the kind of group that is most dangerous for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. They are warlike in their stance toward non-Muslims and inclined to pursue a vision of worldwide Islamic revolution and domination. Among Muslims, they are most likely to practice takfiri violence, the idea that those who don't believe precisely as they do are not real Muslims - or worse, heretics, hypocrites and "corruptors of the true religion" - deserving of violent affliction and death (shoot the moderates first is the universal motto of extremist movements - no exception here).
Army of Islam is the type of movement whose fanatical extremism over issues like female modesty creates a hot-house climate for honor-related violence, and that is apparently what started happening in Gaza about two years ago. What follows is a long clip from an article about violence against women in Gaza that appeared in The Australian in spring 2007. It should be noted that the article inaccurately implies sharia law condones honor-related violence (it does not), but hyper-extremists with a history of religious violence do. (Lawrence Wright in The Looming Tower describes one of the three utopian goals indoctrinated into trainees in bin Laden's Afghan camps was "Purification of the ranks of Islam from the elements of depravity.") Disturbingly, this article also reports that Army of Islam had infiltrated Hamas' executive force. Some of the references are dated, but it gives you a sense of the savagery of this group:
The dead woman was Dalal al-Behtete, a young woman from a struggling family in central Gaza. Seven other women have met the same violent and lonely fate across Gaza during a 10-day stretch this month. According to their assassins, their deaths gave them honour that their conduct in life had not. All the women had been accused of immoral behaviour. Some had been labelled prostitutes; others were branded for fraternising with men outside their immediate families.
So-called honour killings have been carried out here in the past, but even in this ramshackle, anarchistic and fractured society, women have never before been hunted down so blatantly.
Gaza, more so than anywhere else in the Palestinian territories, has been a feudal battleground of countless agendas, historical enmity, ideology and greed. Historically, clans and tribes have ruled the roost here, with factionalised militant ideologies running a close second. But the balance appears to have shifted during the past six months. Strict observance of Sunni Islam seems to have encouraged a fundamentalist trend that is making a play for influence, through the rigid enforcement of radical Islamic law espoused by the global jihad network that follows the bin Laden world view.
Sharia law appears to have drifted into Gaza, alarming Muslim and militant groups alike and sharply rattling the neighbour across the security barrier, Israel.
Change had begun in Gaza long before its women began to fall. Late last year, several internet cafes and music stores were bombed. In February, six pharmacies in the southern town of Rafah were also attacked because they persisted in selling Viagra to youths. In the past year, the name of a new group, first heard of after the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit last June, persistently has been linked to the unrest.
It calls itself the Army of Islam and consists of self-styled morality warriors who claim links to al-Qa'ida. Hamas, the most powerful of the militant groups and a joint partner in the new unity government, steadfastly denies that al-Qa'ida has established an organised presence in Gaza. If it is true that al-Qa'ida has done so, it cripples Hamas's claims to be fighting for a Palestinian state alone and not being standard bearers of the global jihads.
....
With the rising power of the so-called Army of Islam, (justice) seems unlikely. Dalal and three other women murdered during the 10-day stretch - Ibtisam Mohammed Abu Genas, Samira Tohami Debeki and Amany Khamis al-Hussary - were victims of killers who claimed the ideological backing of the fledgling group, even if the murders stemmed from bids for family honour.
The deaths pose a significant issue for the new unity government on many fronts, especially Hamas. No one in the uneasy Fatah-Hamas alliance wants to be seen to be linked to extremism, especially of the Salafi-Islamic kind.
Israel has long feared that Gaza will be turned into a platform for al-Qa'ida and the consortium of international jihadis that have emerged in its likeness. Creeping sharia law at the border is a worst-case scenario for the Jewish state; it fears it will lead to imported and intensified jihadism.
For Hamas, the links appear to be just as troubling. Saha says she recognised her tormentors as being members of the Hamas executive force.
Soon after Inquirer's visit to Dalal's grieving family, our translator receives a phone call from a cousin confessing to the murder. In a menacing tone, the man says he too is an executive force member and warns us not to publish the dead woman's story.
Closing the door on Hamas will open the door to something much worse. Hamas has expressed an interest in - and shown a willingness to - adhere to ceasefires. Progressives in America should advocate that our government pressure Israel to make a new ceasefire deal and restart peace negotiations, with both Hamas and Fatah included in the talks.
