http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20080226113621903C487584

Paris – Al-Qaeda is staking new terrain – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – taking advantage of the chaos reigning in Gaza and the radicalisation of part of Palestinian public opinion, analysts say.

Signs are mounting that the international netowrk is trying to become a factor in the longstanding Middle East dispute, from harsh anti-Israeli discourse by al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden to calls for foreign fighters to head to Gaza.

“We will not recognise a state for the Jews, not even one inch of the land of Palestine. Blood calls for more blood and demolishing calls for further demolishing,” said bin Laden, in late December remarks carried on a jihadist Internet site.

Since his remarks, anti-Israeli rhetoric traditionally found in the most radical and violent Internet forums has become even more virulent and precise – calling on young Palestinians to prepare for a forthcoming al-Qaeda cell in Gaza and the West Bank.

“When the border was opened between Gaza and Egypt, I saw calls on forums for foreign fighters to come and infiltrate the Gaza Strip to lead the battle against Israel,” said Dominique Thomas, a specialist on radical Islam at the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris.

He referred to a flood of Palestinians into Egypt after militants blew up part of Gaza’s border in January.

“And recently there were calls from key figures or important emirs of movements in Iraq, Lebanon who continue to preach on Palestine,” Thomas added.

In remarks carried on the Internet earlier this month, for example, the head of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi described Israel as an “evil germ that has infected the body of the Umma (the community of Muslim believers) and must be extracted.”

The day before, another extremist cell – the Gaza-based Fatah al-Islam – described the Palestinian cause as “central for the global jihad.”

“Israel has assumed a heretofore unprecedented priority on the target list of al-Qaeda and its allies,” said Michael Scheuer, former head of the US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) bin Laden unit.

“Al-Qaeda believes it has achieved a durable strategic victory by gaining safe haven in Iraq contiguous to the Levant (an area generally encompassing Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Palestine),” he added.

Several incidents, mostly in Gaza, suggest global jihadists have already arrived, experts say.

A case in point: A February 15 bombing attack against a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) centre by a gang of gunmen.

“It’s typical of the Salafist,” or the international terrorist movement, said Ruben Paz, an expert on Islamic movements at the Israeli International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

“Hamas wouldn’t do that, but they were not able to prevent it. It’s a bad sign. It’s on the model of what’s going on in Iraq,” he added.

But Paz believes Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement will not let things go to far.

“I think that if there’s a successful terrorist attack coming from Gaza and carried out by Salafist, Hamas would open an open war against these elements, because they could endanger them also,” he said.

As they await the moment they can set up shop in Gaza, the jihadists are multiplying their advice on the Internet to an ever more radicalised Palestinian youth.

One author, signing himself as “Assad al-Jihad 2,” recommended young Palestinians take martial arts courses, form autonomous cells and offer shelter and protection for foreign fighters arriving in Gaza. – Sapa-AFP