The reported arrest of an Al-Qa’ida cell on the Israeli-Jordanian border last week gives rise to questions concerning the extent of the organization’s involvement with local terror groups.
Israel’s Channel 10 television reported that five Al-Qa’ida members were arrested last week, but did not specify the nationalities of the detainees or how many were caught in each country.
Although Al-Qa’ida has been present in the region for some time now, local terror groups, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have dismissed Al-Qa’ida’s attempts to collaborate.
Reuven Paz, director of the Project for Research of Islamic Movements [PRISM], told The Media Line that there is very little contact between Al-Qa’ida and local terror organizations, though there have been attempts by Al-Qa’ida to penetrate the Palestinian terror infrastructure.
A British terrorist linked to Al-Qa’ida entered Tel Aviv from Gaza last spring and blew up in Mike’s Place, a pub on the Tel Aviv promenade, killing three people. His accomplice was pursued and drowned at sea.
“They collaborated with Hamas, but they initially came to Israel following propaganda of Al-Qa’ida in London,” Paz said.
Despite the organization’s cell-like structure, well-organized management, and influential propaganda, it is still not capable of penetrating the Palestinian territories and recruiting people there, Paz said.
Paz attributed this incapacity to an ideological rivalry. Hamas does not wish Al-Qa’ida to penetrate the Palestinian arena, Paz said. Hamas is based on a strong ideology and thus there is a clear ideological rivalry between Hamas and Al-Qa’ida.
“Hamas doesn’t want rivals. It was hard enough for them to accept the [existence] of the Islamic Jihad terror group, which is a different stream of thought,” he said.
Paz added that there has also been little, if any, cooperation between the two organizations. If Hamas needed assistance in administering terror attacks, they are more likely to link to Iranian elements, or Hizbullah bases in Lebanon to perpetrate attacks against Israeli targets, Paz said.
Nevertheless, Al-Qa’ida has been successful in targeting Israeli and Jewish interests outside of Israel, such as the recent synagogue bombings in Istanbul and the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombassa, Kenya in November 2002. The Mombassa bombing killed 18 people, three of them Israelis.