16.01.2005, 18:33
Zitat:Hamas and Islamic Jihad clash over 'media Jihad'Quelle: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/rusi/rjhm050112_1_n.shtml">http://www.janes.com/security/internati ... _1_n.shtml</a><!-- m -->
By Matthew Levitt
RUSI/Jane’s Homeland Security and Resilience Monitor assesses the public perception of and popular support for militant Palestinian organisations.
Traditionally, the relationship between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has vacillated between tense rivalry and close co-operation. Over the past four years, however, the two groups co-operated closely with each other - and with other Palestinian groups - to the point that they discussed merging the Qassam and Al Quds brigades, Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s respective military wings.
Despite this recent history of intimate co-operation, a sharp rift has now developed between Hamas and Islamic Jihad that threatens further confrontation and could undermine Palestinian efforts to restore calm and the rule of law in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Around October 2004, several dozen Hamas activists responsible for promoting the group in the media met in what they believed was a closed forum. In fact, the meeting was videotaped and, according to a copy of the tape obtained by the Israeli daily Haaretz, Hamas Shura Council member Fathi Hamad - in charge of the group’s communications system in Gaza - disparaged Islamic Jihad for its intimate ties to Shi’a Hizbullah and Iran. He complained bitterly to the group about Islamic Jihad’s propaganda dominance, its success at infiltrating the media and its control of "the agenda".