| Africa North |
| Egypt: Islamic leader blames Islamists for IsraelŽs wars |
| 2009-04-23 |
| [ADN Kronos] The Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader, Sayed Imam Abdel Aziz Sharif, has blamed Islamist movements in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon for recent wars that have resulted in pain and suffering for their people. "Hamas and Hezbollah have lit up the fire of Israeli wars to then unload their burden on the population," said Sharif, also known as Doctor Fazel. He expressed his views in the second part of his latest book, 'The Gaza Shirt', published from his prison cell at al-Aqrab in southern Egypt, according to a report in the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat. He strongly criticised both groups for their actions. "Their way of acting and governing is in strong contrast with what the Prophet Mohammed did. During his time there were many disenfranchised and oppressed Muslims in Mecca, however, the prophet never declared holy war at the beginning," said Sharif. Sharif said what the Islamist Hamas movement did during the latest Israeli offensive in Gaza "has nothing to do with Islam" and said Islamist movements should "take responsibility and assess whether they are capable of fighting a war before unleashing it." The title chosen by Sharif for his latest book uses the word "shirt" as a metaphor for achieving his own political objectives. The word refers to an episode in the history of Islam, when the caliph or Islamic leader Muawiya used it as a pretext to kill the previous caliph, Uthman, and seize control of the Islamic caliphate from Ali, the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law. He assumed the caliphate after Ali's assassination and forced the abdication of al-Hassan by threatening further bloodshed in 661. He ruled until 680 AD. Israel claimed its three-week military offensive against Gaza in December and January (photo) was designed to stop Hamas firing rockets into Israel. The 2006 Lebanon War was a military conflict between the Islamist Shia group, Hezbollah, and Israel that began in July that year and lasted for 34 days. A United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in August 2006, although the conflict formally ended in September when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. |
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| Syria and Iran benefit from Al-Qaeda, says jihadi leader | |
| 2008-11-25 | |
(AKI) - Syria and Iran are happy about the existence of Al-Qaeda because its members attack their enemies for them, according to the leader of Islamic jihad in Egypt, Sayed Abdel Qader ibn Abdelaziz. Abdelaziz, also known as Doctor Fazel, makes his claims in a new book, excerpts of which are published in the Arab daily, Al-Sharq al-Awsat. "There is no doubt that Syria and Iran are among the happiest about the existence of the Al-Qaeda organisation,
The book entitled, 'Memo on Exoneration', has reportedly been written in response to several attacks launched against him by Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, several months ago. In this way, the Egyptian leader intends to refute the affirmations of Al-Zawahiri. "The contrary is true. They are responsible for allowing the United States to enter Iraq and Afghanistan and the subsequent occupation," Fazel said. "They gave the Americans false information about their relations with Iraq and the presence of weapons of mass destruction to give them the excuse to invade the country. They did that only to exhaust the Americans on the battlefield even if those from Al-Qaeda have killed double the number of Iraqis than the United States." The Islamic jihadi leader condemned the sectarian clashes in Iraq and said they had played a "destructive" impact on Muslims. "We see how that is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and in Waziristan in Pakistan. Iran and Syria are now taking advantage of all these deaths to pave the way for whoever wants to conduct jihad in Iraq. Do they do it perhaps for love of the Iraqi people or their interests? Don't the top leaders of Al-Qaeda live in Iran, like the son of Bin Laden, who incite young people to fight in Iraq? Wasn't Al-Zawahiri the one who sent his brothers to fight in Egypt, paid by the Sudanese secret service?" Elsewhere in the book Doctor Fazel said there were only three others, apart from Osama Bin Laden, who knew about preparations for the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the US. He said Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Hafs al-Masri and a third man, who was not al-Zawahiri, knew about the attacks. Khaled Sheikh Mohammed is considered one of the masterminds of the attacks on the World Trade Center, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is imprisoned in the US. Abu Hafs al-Masri was responsible for deadly attacks in Luxor, Egypt in 1997 and was killed in a US raid in Afghanistan in 2001. Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, opposed the attacks, Fazel said. | |
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