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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Militant arms to stay down
By Jailan HalawiLast Thursday, the spiritual leader of the militant Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, affirmed from his US prison that he has withdrawn his support for the group's unilaterally declared truce. However, the statement was not exactly a call to revive the armed struggle against the government. Abdel-Rahman said he would leave the final verdict on the fate of the cease-fire to the Gama'a leadership in Egypt. Abdel-Rahman is serving a life sentence for conspiring to blow up the World Trade Centre in New York.
The initiative to put aside violence came on the heels of the 1997 Luxor massacre, which left 58 tourists and four Egyptians dead.
In the bloody aftermath of the Luxor attack, any credibility the militants' struggle may have once enjoyed quickly evaporated. Jailed Gama'a leaders, serving life sentences for their roles in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat, came to the conclusion that the path of violence had run its course. A cease-fire was declared.
Abdel-Rahman's statement against continuing the truce followed an intense week of debate among top Gama'a figures, at home and abroad, on whether or not the clandestine group should completely renounce armed struggle. In a statement received by Al-Ahram Weekly via e-mail, Abdel-Rahman said, "I did not cancel the cease-fire initiative, but I did withdraw my support for it and made my opinion clear. I left it to my brothers [in Egypt] to look at it and consider what it is worth; as they know the reality better. They are living in it."
According to Salah Hashim, a Gama'a founder currently living in the Sohag governorate of Upper Egypt, the group is committed to the cease-fire. In the past, Hashim has played a major role in promoting the recourse to peaceful methods of struggle among his comrades. Being a strong advocate of the truce, Hashim believes that Abdel-Rahman must have received inaccurate information about its impact due to communication restrictions at his US prison. Hashim is convinced that the positive developments outweigh the disappointments.
Originally, Abdel-Rahman had formally declared his support for the cease-fire. However, on 14 June Abdel-Rahman through his American lawyer, Lynne Stewart, stated that he had withdrawn his support because he believed the government had failed to reciprocate. This statement left Gama'a leaders divided on whether Abdel-Rahman was actually advocating a new wave of violence or merely calling for a re-evaluation of political strategy.
In Egypt, jailed Gama'a leaders, via their lawyer Montasser El-Zayyat, responded to Abdel-Rahman's statement by pointing out that the government has released approximately 2,500 detained militants and halted extra-judicial killings, mass arrests and military trials. At the same time, Mustafa Hamza, head of the Shura Council, the group's executive body in exile, declared that the council had taken no decision to abandon the cease-fire.
Similarly, on Saturday, Osama Ayyoub, the exiled leader of the militant Jihad group, renewed his commitment to non-violence and urged the government to release more jailed militants. Ayyoub said in a statement from Germany that the group was committed to peace. "We stress that the call to end military operations, which Jihad issued in February 2000, is still our firm position," Ayyoub said.
In a telephone interview with the Weekly, Ayyoub said that his cease-fire policy has the full support of the Jihad leadership, including militants serving prison sentences for their role in the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat. "The situation has improved," Ayyoub explained. He praised the government for freeing almost 840 Jihad members. The cease-fire, he said, is "in the interest of Islam and Muslims." Ayyoub insisted, "There has to be an end to the bloodshed for the best interest of our people. We do not want a blood bath in which everyone loses."
In the interview, Ayyoub argued that the government must suspend death sentences and release more prisoners. Ayyoub spoke specifically of Ahmed Youssef, who has been detained for 10 years without being formally charged of any crime. According to Ayyoub, it is in the government's interest to release Youssef since he is a supporter of the current peace initiative.
Ayyoub, who was granted political asylum in Germany last year, urged the other Jihad members living outside Egypt to "stop issuing provocative statements." He said that the majority of Jihad leaders back home support the end of armed attacks and believe that peace will "improve their prison conditions."
