Al-Qaeda - From Egypt to Gaza

The Gaza Strip is a new haven for scores of al Qaeda fugitives on the run from Egyptian crackdown in Sinai, according to DEBKAfile. Has the Gaza Strip become a new front in the war on terror? Are Israel and Egypt being too 'politically correct' in their identifying terrorists as al-Quaeda?

A large number of the wanted cells fled across the Egyptian border into the Gaza Strip, shepherded by the gun- and drug-running gangs working with al Qaeda and Palestinian terrorists in the border region.

The internal balance among the diverse Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip is expected to bear the mark of the heavy al Qaeda influx of the last two weeks, and still further raise security tensions on the Gaza-Israeli border and around its crossings.

The scores of al Qaeda fugitives, estimated by intelligence watchers to have infiltrated the territory, quickly made it clear they were after action. Tuesday, May 9, they used a Hamas Internet site to announce the formation of the “Islamic Army of al Quds” for attacks against Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources note that Egypt - like Israel – prefers to play down the al Qaeda presence within by avoiding mentioning the jihadists by name. They use euphemisms liked armed extremists, militants or the World Islamic Organization. Official Egyptian denial of a foreign element in the terrorist campaign plaguing the country for three years stretches to attributing the attacks to Tawhid wal Jihad, a local band of Bedouin and radical Muslims.

However, in the meantime, our counter-terror sources report, Tawhid wal Jihad has been taken over by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, al Qaeda’s Iraq commander. source

In related news, Russia is providing additional aid to the Palestinians while Europe’s foreign ministers urgently try to come up with a plan to avert a looming economic crisis.

The United States and the EU have changed their stance and agreed to give aid to Hamas. Diana West expresses her disgust like this:

Hamas remained true to its creed (Kill the Jews), the Arab-Muslim world sat tight, and the United States gave in on its anti-terrorist stance and agreed to airlift necessities — which is a disgrace.

Of course, the administration would probably emphasize that it's "only" $10 million worth of Band-Aids and such; and it's not going to Hamas officials, it's going to Hamas constituents — or maybe even Fatah constituents, whose outlook on life and Israel is so different from Hamas that they support the Al Aqsa Martyr Brigades. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.) But there is more to this incident than $10 million, Band-Aids or Hamas. What we are witnessing is the stumbling behavior of a superpower that doesn't know how to act either super or powerful.

Maybe waging a nebulous "war on terror" has hopelessly confused us. Maybe finding ourselves in the costly business of making the world safe for sharia has muddled our objectives. But if we cannot retrieve the simple, precious principle that took us into war — you're either with us or you're against us — not only will we never achieve victory, we won't even know what it looks like. source

Stingray is reporting "Israel will hit Iran in the next few months: Israeli official":

We have to consider the source, but I think it likely that Israel will attack Iran in the next 12 months — if the United States doesn’t do it first. Middle Eastern governments will howl and squeal but will secretly be relieved that Iran has lost its nuclear capabilities. They are very well aware that Iran’s missles can reach them and that Ahmadinejad is a nutcase who is plotting an all-out war to bring the return of the 12th Imam. From The Daily Times (Pakistan).

We will just have to wait and see. Shimone Perez did say that Iran needs to realize 'they can be wiped off the face of the earth' also.

Caroline B Glick has an excellent article where she says America is buying the Hamas 'fantasy', and that America needs to understand Hamas and Iran are linked, "And so, the day after Ahmadinejad wrote his war letter to Bush, Rice was meeting with her associates figuring out a way to give the Hamas-led Palestinians millions of dollars of US taxpayers' money."

Lastly, our 'friends' the Russians are still continuing to have dialogue with Hamas. "In doing so, Russia broke ranks with other major powers who are isolating the group unless it rejects violence, recognizes Israel and accepts existing peace deals."