Palestine: Fratricidal war in Ghaza

GHAZA- The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has crushed a rival radical splinter group in Rafah, southern Ghaza strip, during a bloody repression which caused 22 dead and at least 120 wounded, according to Palestinian emergency services.

•     The head of the Salafist group "Ansar Jund Allah," (Soldiers of the partisans of God), Abdelatif Moussa, was killed by the police of Hamas during the fighting, said Saturday a Palestinian medical source.
  
      "The clashes that took place in the night of Friday to Saturday between Hamas and a group of extremists have caused 22 dead and at least 120 wounded, according to a spokesman for Palestinian emergency services.
  
      Five Hamas policemen were killed and ten others injured. The clashes ended Saturday at dawn," added the spokesperson.
  
      The head of the military wing of Hamas in the south of the Ghaza strip, Mohammed el-Chamali, is among the dead.
  
      Saturday, Hamas has indirectly accused the security services of the Palestinian Authority of collusion with the group “Ansar Jund Allah.”
  
      "It seems that they cooperate with each other in defiance of the law to spread instability and insecurity in the Ghaza strip, said a spokesman for Hamas, Taher al-Nounou.
  
      The security services of the Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, were stationed in the Ghaza strip before being ousted by Hamas in June 2007.
  
      According to witnesses, the police of Hamas attacked with heavy weapons a mosque in Rafah where gathered Friday afternoon members of Ansar Jund Allah. The organization accuses Hamas, which controls the Ghaza strip to be too moderate, particularly in terms of manners.
  
      The fighting continued until Saturday at dawn, said a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior from Hamas. He added that "fierce fighting have taken place in tunnels dug under the border with Egypt." Rafah is straddling the border with Egypt.
  
      According to a medical source, the head of Ansar Jund Allah, Abdelatif Musa and his deputy, Abu Abdallah Assoury, were killed when police blew up a house where they were in Rafah.
  
      Friday, surrounded by armed combatants, Abdelatif Moussa had not hesitated to proclaim his allegiance to an "Islamic Emirate in the heart of Jerusalem", in a communiqué widely published on the internet.
  
      Ansar Jund Allah had a few dozen activists and several hundred of supporters, according to Palestinian experts.
  
      It operates mainly in the southern territory of Ghaza, especially in Khan Yunis and Rafah, its strongholds on the border with the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.
  
      Several attacks have been perpetrated in the Sinai by radical Islamic groups, in April 2006 in Dahab (22 dead), in July 2005 in Sharm el-Sheikh (70 dead), and in October 2004 in Taba (34 deaths, 11 Israelis).
  
      Ideologically close to al-Qaeda, Ansar Jund Allah has literally declared war on secular trends to enforce strict Sharia law.
  
      According to witnesses in Ghaza, members of the splinter group have threatened the owners of Internet cafes to burn down their shops, and want to impose stricter law on dress and rigor in the streets and beaches of the small territory.
  
      Calm returned back Saturday morning, the Interior Ministry under Hamas announced the reopening of the Rafah terminal road between the Ghaza strip and Egypt for 2450 faithful Muslims of the territory who must take departure this weekend to perform the pilgrimage in Mecca.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.