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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Moving away from violence?
By Diaa Rashwan *Nearly a quarter of a century after the Islamist movement carried out its most visible acts of violence in Egypt, the core sector of the movement is considering a new foray into political life, this time through legal political channels. In 1974, an extremist Islamist organisation, which drew its members largely from the so-called Technical Military Institute squad, staged its first attempt to overthrow the regime through violence. The attempt, led by Saleh Seria, a Palestinian, failed, but left many dead and injured, both security forces and organisation members. Many members were arrested and prosecuted, five were sentenced to death and the rest to prison terms of various durations. The attempt marked a period of violence against the regime staged by numerous Islamist organisations, the largest and strongest of which was the Jihad and Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya. After years of such violence, a number of key militants in the two organisations submitted to the Committee on Political Parties an application for establishing a new party, which they call the Social Islamic Party.
While the event is an important development in itself, it has also significant implications. Most importantly, the would-be founders of the new party are Salah Hashem (one of the founders of Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya) and several of its "historical leaders", in addition to Gamal Sultan, the journalist at Al-Shaab, an openly Islamist newspaper, and Kamal El-Said Habib, a political researcher and journalist at the same newspaper. While Hashem, who is almost 50, belongs to the older generation of extremist militants, the latter two are in their forties, and hold more moderate views. Sultan is a member of Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, Habib was a leader of one of the organisations which made up the Jihad in the '80s. All three men have been convicted of violent crimes and served prison terms.
Their endeavour to establish a political party is a shift from Islamist advocacy of violence, and involves members of the two major organisations, rather than the organisations themselves. The position of the two major groups on these developments may be summarised as follows. Well-known Islamist lawyer Montasser El-Zayyat, closely associated with Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, was initially favourable to the proposal of a new party, but soon rejected the idea, explaining that many leaders of the Gama'a, with whom he has close ties, and who are currently in prison, declared in July 1997 their determination to relinquish violence, but did not approve the establishment of an Islamist political party. El-Zayyat therefore asserted that, while he firmly endorses the initiative to relinquish violence, he is opposed to the party option.
El-Zayyat and Gama'a leaders argue that it is still premature to decide what practical course Egyptian Islamists who wish to abandon violence should take in the future. They are uncertain whether they should limit their struggle to party channels, and whether these are the "best option" on the ground. Yet such an ambivalent position on the new party does not mean that the "historical leaders" have reneged on their commitment to relinquish violence; on the contrary, it confirms their resolve to do so. They have asserted that they are in the process of drawing up statements which would confer religious and political legitimacy upon their initiative and abrogate previous Gama'a documents supporting violence.
There is reason to believe that the response of El-Zayyat and the Gama'a leaders is conditioned by internal and external factors. At the internal level, there is no legal basis in their doctrine to justify laying down their arms. As a result, endorsing the proposal for a new party could jeopardise the unity of the Gama'a both at home and abroad. The leaders' concern for unity and cohesion during the transition from violence to politics may be the major internal reason for the organisation's uncertainty. On the external front, the Gama'a leaders and El-Zayyat cannot see themselves initiating a shift from violence to political action, since the advocates of political action do not conform strictly to the movement's doctrine and therefore are not its true representatives. The leaders evidently fear things could get out of hand. El-Zayyat has made this point clear, stating that the leaders who want to abandon violence "belong to the Gama'a, whereas the advocates of a new political party do not".
The project for an Islamist party is part of the internal conflict raging between various groups within the extremist Islamist movement. The move away from violence is gaining ground among leaders and members of Al-Gama'a. Only a few Gama'a members abroad are opposed. The Jihad, on the other hand, has been totally opposed to the initiative since its inception. Only a small faction has expressed enthusiasm; controversy within the organisation has surfaced in the past few weeks. Verbal exchanges between advocates and detractors of the political option have reached an intensity unprecedented within Islamist ranks. The establishment of an Islamist party is indeed a new and important development, since, for the first time, it involves certain concrete steps rather than ambiguous general principles. The issue of the new political party will most certainly fuel the conflict and possibly lead to further rifts.
Abroad, the proposal is linked with the government's reaction to various trends within the Islamist movement. As the proposal was being launched, the Jihad leaders and proponents from the core organisation under the leadership of Bin Laden were being brought to justice. A total of 108 Jihad members, including Mohamed Shawqi El-Islambouli (the brother of Khaled El-Islambouli, Sadat's assassin) were defendants in the largest trial of Islamists since the Jihad trial of 1981 following President Sadat's assassination. At the same time, almost 5,000 people with close links to the Gama'a who were being held without trial have been released. The release reflects the government's reaction to the anti-violence position adopted by the Islamists, and could be an incentive for Islamist elements to advocate and eventually create a new political party.
Progress toward the establishment of a new Islamist political party by elements which for many years advocated violence and charged the regime, the government, and political parties with ungodly and sinful behaviour, is in itself a monumental achievement. Even if the proposal is rejected, it will have opened the way for the extremist Islamist movement to exit the dark tunnel of violence and contemplate broader horizons of political action. Such a development will enable the movement to reconsider many of the concepts, principles and attitudes it had adopted in the past. For the Islamist movement to reconsider its position, however, the Egyptian government will also have to review many of its own methods in order to enhance the chances of peace and security.
*The writer is an expert at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies and managing editor of the annual State of Religion in Egypt Report issued by the Centre.
