26 April - 2 May 2001
Issue No.531
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 April - 2 May 2001 Issue No.531 |
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Fuel on the fire
A statement issued by Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya remembering the state's execution of the man responsible for President Anwar El-Sadat's assassination has revived speculation on a possible split within the group, reports Khaled Dawoud
In an unprecedented move, Egypt's largest militant organisation, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya (the Islamic Group) issued a statement last week marking the 19th anniversary of the death of army officer Khaled El-Islambouli. El-Islambouli was executed for leading the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat in October 1981. Along with three other militants, El-Islambouli shot El-Sadat during a military parade marking Egypt's victory in the 1973 war against Israel.
After praising El-Islambouli and his colleagues -- all executed within months of the assassination -- the statement said that "El-Islambouli's [Al-Gama'a] brothers were eager to follow him to heaven." The phrase has been interpreted as a sign that the group, which the government holds responsible for most acts of terrorist violence between 1992 and 1997, might be reconsidering a decision in March 1999 to stop all anti-government attacks.
But prominent Al-Gama'a figure, Salah Hashem, who reportedly played an important role in convincing hardliners within the group to accept what is now known as the "ceasefire initiative", denied that there has been a change in Al-Gama'a's position. Hashem told the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat that the statement "mainly aimed at commemorating El-Islambouli and his brothers, and did not indicate any new stance; nor did it reverse the group's commitment to the ceasefire initiative."
Reports on a possible ideological split within Al-Gama'a surfaced recently after former Al-Gama'a leader Rifaie Ahmed Taha, issued several statements criticising the ceasefire initiative and claiming the Al-Gama'a got nothing from the government in the bargain. Taha, who is held directly responsible for ordering the 1997 Luxor massacre, in which 58 tourists and four Egyptians were killed, reportedly resigned from the group's leadership shortly after the incident. The statements he issued in recent months from his reported hideout in Afghanistan were in his name, implying that his views did not represent those of the group's official leadership. However, most experts agree that Taha continues to play an influential role in the group's decision-making process.
Almost a few days after Al-Gama'a issued its last statement, Ayman Zawahri, leader of the second major armed militant group, Jihad, published a strongly-worded article on the group's Web site sharply criticising the ceasefire initiative -- issued jointly with Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya -- and those promoting it. Zawahri, a close associate of the Afghanistan-based Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, accused those who supported the peace initiative of "selling out the Jihad cause" and "surrendering to the [government] regime."
Zawahri also questioned the authenticity of statements supporting the ceasefire initiative attributed to the so-called "historic" Al-Gama'a and Jihad leaders now serving life terms for their roles in El-Sadat's assassination. He said these statements were a result of pressure faced by the leaders in prison and misinformation that has been fed to them by a "certain lawyer" who took it upon himself to promote the ceasefire. Although he did not mention him by name, it was clear Zawahri referred to Islamist lawyer Montasser Zayat.
But Zayat himself sounded radical during a news conference on Monday, held to denounce the prison conditions of Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya's "spiritual leader" Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, now serving a life term in a New York prison for his alleged role in a conspiracy to bomb major New York targets, including the UN, in 1993. Zayat warned that the anger many Islamists felt due to Abdel-Rahman's continued imprisonment and his alleged mistreatment "might lead some angry youths to act against US interests." Zayat stopped short of directly warning the US against terrorist attacks. The news conference held to support Sheikh Abdel-Rahman came after the US embassy in Cairo refused to grant his wife and son, Abdallah, US entry visas to visit him in prison.
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