11 - 17 January 2001
Issue No.516
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 11 - 17 January 2001 Issue No.516 |
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Concepts of jihad
The Egyptian militant Islamic group Jihad issued a hard-line statement last week denying that it was close to reaching a decision to forgo violence. Instead, the group reaffirmed that "fighting against Jews and Americans is one of our duties at this time because they are the infidels leading the aggression against our [Islamic] nation, holy sites and resources."
Jihad is led by the Afghanistan-based Egyptian militant Ayman Zawahri, who forged an alliance with Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden in 1998. At the time, the two declared from their hideout in Afghanistan the establishment of an "international front" made up of six militant groups united in their aim to attack United States and Israeli interests. The United States holds both bin Laden and Zawahri responsible for masterminding deadly attacks against its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, and is seeking to put them on trial. Yemeni and American investigators have also hinted that bin Laden's "front" could be behind the suicide attack against the US warship Cole in Aden last October that killed 17 US servicemen.
Although Egypt's largest militant Islamic group, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, issued a declaration to halt anti-government attacks, Jihad has rejected repeated appeals to follow suit. Many believe that though the group has vehemently opposed adopting the non-violence initiative, the stance is primarily an ideological one. Despite its conviction, the group has not claimed responsibility for an anti-government attack since 1995. Additionally, since Zawahri forged his alliance with bin Laden, he has been quoted as saying that the main priority of his group is to confront the United States because of its support for what he describes as "suppressive regimes" in the region.
Still, the tides could be changing with regard to Jihad's hard-line stance. A few months ago, an exiled Jihad leader living in Europe issued an appeal to members to support Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya's non-violence initiative, declared two years ago. The appeal was followed by reports of divisions within Jihad's ranks and rumours that Zawahri had resigned the group's leadership.
But last week's statement by Jihad strongly denied reports of infighting and policy changes. "The Jihad group, thank God, continues along the same path on which it started -- that according to which its sons [followers] have been raised," the statement said. It confirmed that Jihad rejected any notion of compromise with the government, "even if it comes under the banner of uniting against [Israel]."
Following the eruption in late September of the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Intifada, several Islamist figures have issued appeals for a united Arab stance against any Palestinian-Israeli settlement that did not meet even basic Arab demands. Stressing that it has named its enemy, Jihad reiterated its position that jihad against the United States is "a duty." The statement also declared the group's "support for, and blessing of, all acts of jihad against the enemies of Islam."
The Jihad statement came only a few days after the release by Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya of a retrospective look at the performance of militant groups over the past 25 years. Published under the title "The Islamic Revival on the Threshold of a New Century", the statement concluded with an appeal to members for unity. Al-Gama'a -- which the government holds responsible for the majority of attacks against police, tourists and civilians between 1992 and 1997 -- has reportedly suffered from an internal split between moderates and hard-liners over the group's decision to halt anti-government attacks. Al-Gama'a's statement asked members to give up their differences and disagreements and "move towards reconciliation and cooperation." The statement also asked that Al-Gama'a members "have faith in their ulamas [scholars], as a source of wisdom."
What is now known as the "non-violence initiative" was first proposed by six jailed Al-Gama'a leaders in 1997. But the expatriate leadership that plotted the attacks opposed the initiative, declaring that it would not accept a truce that left the group at a disadvantage. After Al-Gama'a took responsibility for the Luxor massacre in November 1997, pressure mounted on the group's military leaders to support the initiative of the jailed "scholars", who had been condemned to life terms for their roles in the 1981 assassination of the late President Anwar El-Sadat. The group's expatriate leadership did finally approve the initiative in April 2000, but this agreement hasn't served to wholly silence those who still support anti-government violence as a means to establishing a strict Islamic state.
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