GAZA CITY: Radical Islamist factions are challenging Hamas’s rule in the Gaza Strip, denouncing a de facto ceasefire with Israel and accusing the group of failing to uphold Islamic law.
Though small in numbers, the groups have had a disproportionate impact.
By launching hundreds of crude rockets from the coastal enclave into the Jewish state, they have attracted the wrath of both Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
The various groups all identify themselves as Salafists, who espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the early days of the faith.
Their religious observances and refusal to abide by a de facto ceasefire in place since January 2009 have set them on a path of confrontation with Hamas.
Tensions boiled over in August 2009, when Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Partisans of God) announced the creation of an Islamist "emirate" in Gaza, during a sermon at a mosque in the southern city of Rafah.
That prompted a furious response from Hamas, whose forces stormed the mosque, prompting clashes which left 24 people dead.
Relations with Hamas have been tense ever since, says Abu Al-Bara Al-Masri, who describes himself as a senior leader of Gaza’s "Salafist jihadist" groups.
"Since then we have faced prosecution, arrest and threats to our family to try to convince us to turn ourselves in," he told AFP.
"But we will never surrender to Hamas’s plan to put an end to the Salafist jihadist groups."
Masri named five major groups currently active in Gaza — Jund Ansar Allah, Jaysh Al-Islam, Tawhid wa Jihad, Jaysh Al-Umma and Ansar Al-Sunna — and said other small factions "in the early stage of development."
"There’s no competition between the groups," he said. "On the contrary, the brothers share out the work."
Hamas spokesman Taher Al-Nunu denied that Gaza’s Islamist rulers were hunting members of Salafist factions.
"We respect all those who work within a certain frame of mind, who work within the general law and the key Palestinian agreements," he said.
But Abu Hamza Al-Maqdisi, a leader of Ansar Al-Sunna, accused Hamas of abandoning its own principles.
"We do not intend to declare them apostate, that is not part of our religion, but we believe that application of Sharia law is necessary," he said.
"We are in favour of the full veil and preventing smoking and beginning to create an Islamic emirate, but this is not the Hamas approach."
Hamas "changes its religious rulings depending on who is in power," he said. He accused the group of only cracking down on rocket fire after it swept to power.
Israel has taken its own action to quell rocket fire, launching a string of deadly air strikes, but they "only strengthen the conviction of the mujahedeen to continue," Maqdisi said.
The history of bad blood between Hamas and the Salafists goes back to 2007, when the Army of Islam claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of BBC reporter Alan Johnston.
At the time, Hamas said it had severed ties with the group and helped free Johnston after four months in captivity.
The kidnapping, and the hardline positions espoused by the Salafist groups, have raised questions about their links to Al-Qaeda.
Masri refused to comment on ties to Al-Qaeda, offering only a statement of support: "We stand with our brothers in the organization led by Sheikh Osama Bin Laden," he said.
But Maqdisi acknowledged informal contacts.
"There is no direct contact at the moment, there have been contacts with individuals in some organizations, but that doesn’t mean our attitudes are the same or we coordinate military action or even funding," he said.
Hamas denies an Al-Qaeda presence in Gaza, but has acknowledged that various groups are continuing "resistance to the occupation" and that it tries to exert control over them.
Masri said Hamas had used brutal tactics to impose that control over the several hundred Salafist fighters he claims are present in Gaza.
"They arrest the mujahedeen and torture them … They don’t torture collaborators with Israel as much as they do the fighters who fire rockets."
Militants like Abu Jaafar, a member of Ansar Al-Sunna, said the conflict with Hamas had forced him to take unusual measures to visit his dying father in hospital.
"He had cancer and it was getting worse. Word reached me through a connection and so I went to the hospital with two brothers, disguised in women’s clothing and a full face veil," he said.
