The Zionist movement
tactic has been, still is and will always be, to dress the Arab-Zionist
conflict in an Islamic-Jewish religious one. Despite it’s a secular movement,
it worked hard to employ the religious myth in serving its targets which have
never been separable from colonization in all its eras. The movement itself is
an egregious and blatant example of the racist colonial occupation. In that
context, it was never a coincidence that the British occupation, in its peak,
worked hard to create Islamic movements that tend to call for fundamentalism –
which is different form Usul ad-Din[1] and Usul al-Fiqh[2] - in order to appear as a
rival for the Zionist Jewish existence in Palestine. And so came first the
muslim brotherhood movement, and then the Islamic Hizb ut-Tahrir[3], and later came supplement
movements like Hamas[4]; the example I mean.
I find myself in a
difficult dilemma along with others who have stood firmly in side of the
Palestinian cause and believed, honestly and with full awareness, it’s the
national liberation struggle topping all priorities of the Arabs’ and the whole
world. Not to mention it’s a matter of national security for Egyptian patriots.
That’s why we have to work our minds and exert all efforts in order to find a
way out of such serious dilemma. I say this after Egyptian security services
have gathered evidence based on confessions obtained from the accused in the case
of assassinating late Egyptian General Prosecution head, Chancellor Hesham
Barakat. The evidences collected show that Hamas movement had a role in
training, arming, and overseeing the assassination in addition to drafting
other similar future plans. We wished Hamas officials would delay their denial
which they said is outright and declare instead that they were about to examine
facts and names and to interrogate who may be involved or acting behind the
movement’s top leaders like Haniyeh[5], az-Zahhar[6], Abu Marzooq[7], and others, since it’s
common, especially in armed movements, that you may find someone acting
individually either in a heated moment of anger or may be out of ignorance, or
even in a betrayal attempt to implicate the whole group in what may later
destroy it. I wished Hamas would take due time to investigate the whole matter
and then declare the results and reveal the mistaken in case they existed.
To give you an example
of what I want to lay before you regarding having some elements acting individually
in an armed movement, I recall a situation I had in 1983 while I was working as
a journalist in the Emirati al-Khaleej[8] newspaper and used to have
a daily column. One day, I wrote about what I called “Abu Eyad’s smoke bombs”.
Salah Khalaf [9]“Abu Eyad[10]” was a top leader in Fateh[11] movement and the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO)[12]. The man was responsible
for the unified security and was involved in assassination operations in
addition to other unlimited activities. I had a close personal relationship
with him along with Hayel Abdel-Hamid[13] “Abu el-Haul[14]” and Farouq al-Qaddoumi[15] “Abu al-Lutf[16]”, while I maintained a
slightly little relation with Khalil al-Wazir[17] “Abu Jihad[18]”. In that article, I leveled
a bit harsh criticism at Salah Khalaf for comments he gave at that time. On
morning of the publishing day, I had a phone call started by inquiring about my
name to make sure it was me. When confirmed, a shower of abusive words and
insults opened at my face ending by a clear threat: “I swear you #$%*!@ I will
shoot you down although you are not worthy”. When I asked him about his
identity, he said: “I’m your master and master of your whole country Egypt,
Rasem el-Ghool[19]”.
El-Ghool was one of the closest trusted people to Yasser Arafat and who was a
master at killing as well. At that time, I was accused by many UAE-resident
Egyptians of working for the Palestinians against my country’s interests
because all my writings and stances were unlimitedly in side of the Palestinian
cause and Palestinian people regardless of any mistakes committed by some of
them toward their co-worker Egyptians. I was also a long-time dissident of
then-president Sadat; I used to oppose his policies and those of the one who
followed him. I felt deeply sorry for myself and decided to call the
Palestinian ambassador in Abu Dhabi who immediately apologized and sent Mr.
Rageh at-Tall, my friend, to assuage the situation. Later, el-Ghool called and
a really nice conversation ran between us; when killer was justifying his
murder for the intended-to-be-killed! Then, members of armed resistance
movements may sometimes deviate from their assigned job, not to mention when
religion constitutes a major role in forming the ideology of such group; giving
it the momentum to continue recruiting members, gaining profits, and justifying
all its misdeeds.
We are in a real dilemma
regarding what has happened, is and will continue to happen, to the Egyptian
and Arab conscience in the streets in general. When voices calling for
normalization with the Zionist enemy and circles of interests connected to the
Hebrew state and global capitalism find their golden chance to launch their
vicious attack against any Egyptian, Arab, or even international humanitarian commitments
toward the Palestinian cause as regarded a unique case of national liberation
and a matter of bloody racist colonial occupation set against a whole nation. Hamas
officials, along with all those who employ their religious ideologies as a
means to serve their own benefits of staying in power and curtailing others’
will to liberate, are directly responsible for inciting some Egyptian and
Palestinian young men to act against the Egyptian state including its land, people
and political regime. They are responsible as well of digging tunnels aiming at
vandalizing our economy and security with the aim of reaching to the heart of
Egypt and then hit it, pushing tens and may be hundreds of Sinai and non-Sinai
people to connect their livelihoods to those tunnels and what comes out of
them.
Away from the legitimate
question inquiring about the cost of such cemented reinforced-with-steel
tunnels that may amount to hundreds of millions of dollars per tunnel and if it
was more useful to allocate such money in solving problems of Gazan people, I
find myself in a devastated state facing a very difficult equation to solve;
that is some Palestinians are deeply involved in destroying Egypt’s national
security either on the economic, security, or moral level, and with
unprecedented diligence. Meantime, we find other officials in an organization,
supposed to be resisting the Zionist occupation and working for the liberation
of Palestine, turning a blind eye on the systematic deviation in their
movement’s political and popular establishing ideology while the Palestinian
people is suffering hunger, lack of shelter, and unemployment. And finally the
fact that Palestine is Egypt’s direct and main gate of its national security;
the fact that every Egyptian should be fully aware of and never let go of it.
It’s a real dilemma that
is getting more and more difficult when adding to it the other party calling
for normal ties with the Zionist state and fiercely standing against Arab
nationalism and liberation. I hope we can find a way out of such dilemma. I
wish Hamas would look for those who went astray among its members and to
reconsider its policy that underestimates Egypt security in favor of the
terrorist muslim brotherhood.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article was
published in Al Ahram on March 3, 2016.
To see the original
Arabic version, go to:
#Al_Ahram#Ahmed_Elgammal#Palestine#Egypt#dilemma#muslim_brotherhood#terrorism#Gaza#PLO#Palestine_Liberation_movement#Hamas#Sinai#Sinai_tunnels#security#zionism#Hesham_Barakat_assassination#British_colonization#zionism_tactic
[1] Usul ad-Din: (Arabic: أصول الدين) is an
Arabic Islamic term that literally
translates as 'foundation of the faith', it talks about the five pillars of
Islam and faith.
[2] Usul al-Fiqh: (Arabic: أصول الفقه) is an Arabic
Islamic term meaning Principles of islamic jurisprudence. It is the study and critical analysis of the
origins, sources, and principles upon which Islamic jurisprudence is based.
(Source: Wikipedia)
[3] Hizb ut-Tahrir: (Arabic: حزب التحرير) or
Party of Liberation is a international, pan-Islamic political
organization, which describes its "ideology as Islam", and its aim as
the re-establishment of "the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate)"
or Islamic state. The new caliphate would be ruled
by Islamic Shariah law, unify
the Muslim community (Ummah), return the caliphate to its
"rightful place as the first state in the world", and carry "the Da'wah [spread]
of Islam" to the world. The organization was founded in 1953 as a Sunni Muslim
organization in Jerusalem. (Source: Wikipedia)
[4] Hamas: (Arabic: حماس)
is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist
organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military
wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and, since
2007, has been the governing authority of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas was founded in 1987, soon after the First
Intifada broke out, as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim
Brotherhood, which in its Gaza branch had been non-confrontational towards
Israel, refrained from resistance, and was hostile to the PLO. (Source:
Wikipedia)
[5] Ismail
Haniyeh: (Arabic: إسماعيل هنية) (29
January 1963 - ) is a senior political leader of Hamas and formerly one of two disputed Prime
Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority. Haniyeh became prime minister after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections of
2006. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the
height of the Fateh–Hamas conflict, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and
continued to exercise prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip. (Source: Wikipedia)
[6] Mahmoud
az-Zahhar: (Arabic: محمود الزهار) (1945 - ) is a
Palestinian politician. He is a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. Since the formation of the Hamas government in the Palestinian National Authority in March 2006, az-Zahhar has served as foreign minister in the government of prime minister Ismail
Haniyeh. (Source: Wikipedia)
[7] Mousa
Abu Marzook: (Arabic: موسى أبو مرزوق) (9 January 1951 - ) is a
Palestinian senior member of Hamas. (Source: Wikipedia)
[8] Al-Khaleej newspaper:
(Arabic: جريدة الخليج)
is a daily newspaper published in the UAE. The paper was founded in 1970.
[9] Salah
Khalaf: (Arabic: صلاح خلف), also
known as Abu Eyad (أبو إياد) (1933 – 14 January 1991) was deputy chief and head of
intelligence for the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the second most senior official of Fateh after Yasser Arafat. (Source: Wikipedia)
[11] Fateḥ: (Arabic: فتح, Fatḥ),
formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a
secular Palestinian political party and the
largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Fateh is generally considered to have had a strong involvement in revolutionary
struggle in the past and has maintained a
number of militant groups. Fateh had been closely identified with
the leadership of its founder Yasser Arafat,
until his death in 2004. Since Arafat's departure, factionalism within the
ideologically diverse movement has become more apparent. (Source: Wikipedia)
[12] The Palestine Liberation Organization: (PLO) (Arabic: منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية) is an organization
founded in 1964 with the purpose of the "liberation of Palestine"
through armed struggle. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people"
by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed
observer status at the United
Nations since 1974. (Source:
Wikipedia)
[13] Hayel Abdel-Hamid:
(Arabic: هايل عبد الحميد)
(1930 – January, 14 1991) also known as Abu el-Haul (Arabic: أبو الهول) born in Safad,
Palestine and was one of Fateh establishing figures in Germany and Austria. He
participated in establishing Fateh movement in Cairo in 1964. He held different
positions in Fateh until he was assassinated along with his companion Salah
Khalaf in Tunisia in 1991. (Source: Wikipedia)
[15] Farouq
al-Qaddoumi: (Arabic: فاروق القدومي; born 1931), also
known as Abu al-Lutf (Arabic: أبو اللطف), is
Secretary-general of Fateh's central committee and PLO's political department in Tunisia. (Source: Wikipedia)
[17] Khalil
al-Wazir: (Arabic: خليل الوزير) also
known as Abu Jihad (Arabic: أبو جهاد)
( October 10, 1935 – April 16, 1988) was a Palestinian leader
and co-founder of the secular nationalist party Fateh. As a top aide of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat, al-Wazir had considerable influence in Fateh's
military activities, eventually becoming the commander of Fateh's armed wing al-Assifa. (Source: Wikipedia)
[19] Rasem el-Ghool: (Arabic: راسم الغول) a top leader in
Fateh movement who held several position in the movement including the post of
a military attaché in the Palestinian embassy in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE).
