GOTTA KNOW WHO YOUR ALLIES ARE:

A bin Laden subtext (Boston Globe, January 17, 2009)

In his oratory about the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, bin Laden never mentioned Hamas. The reason for this omission is well known to Hamas and much of the Arab world. It reflects the lethal enmity between Al Qaeda and like-minded Salafi extremists on the one hand, and the Palestinian Hamas movement on the other. Salafis are purists who believe that Sunni Muslims must establish an Islamic caliphate under the severe version of Islamic law, or Sharia, that they associate with the Prophet Mohammed and his early followers.

Having these aims, they denounce Hamas for participating in elections and other democratic practices and for failing to impose a strict form of Sharia in Gaza. Al Qaeda and its Salafi fellow travelers also castigate Hamas for preventing non-Palestinian jihadists from going to Gaza to organize for holy war. There have been shoot-outs in Gaza between Hamas security forces and a Salafi group known as Jaysh al-Islam, or Army of Islam. In one recent clash, nine Army of Islam members were killed, and the group swore revenge against Hamas for the killings.

This deep-seated hostility between the Al Qaeda current of Islamism and the more nationalist tendency represented by Hamas suggests that Israel, the United States, and others might do well to shape policy with these distinctions in mind.

Hamas's electoral victory was a win for W, if only he'd realized it.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 17, 2009 2:42 PM