BICOM

Israeli leaders yesterday welcomed the killing by US special forces of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his congratulations to US President Barack Obama for the successful operation, saying that the killing of Bin-Laden represented a ‘triumph’ for all democratic nations in the fight against terrorism. Palestinian Authority Spokesman Ghassan Khatib also welcomed the killing, saying Bin-Laden’s departure was ‘good for the cause of peace.’ Hamas leaders, however, along with the leaders of Iran, condemned the killing. Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas enclave in Gaza, said that Hamas condemned ‘the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior.’  Whilst he alluded to differences in the approaches of al-Qaeda and Hamas, he added that ‘We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.’ Haniyeh said that the killing of Bin-Laden represented a continuation of an American policy based on ‘oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.’

Haniyeh’s words are likely to cause particular concern, given that a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas is expected to be signed in Cairo later this week. The relationship between Hamas, which emerged from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Salafist-jihadi orientation behind al-Qaeda is complex. While both orientations mourn the loss of the Islamic Caliphate and aspire to its re-establishment, al-Qaeda leaders have in the past been critical of Hamas’s focus on Palestinian nationalism. Hamas, in turn, has at times acted against organizations in Gaza professing to represent the global jihadi philosophy of al-Qaeda. Yet sentiments of sympathy toward the Salafi outlook also exist within Hamas’s ranks, particularly among the members of the group’s powerful armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. In this regard, it is worth noting that Ismail Haniyeh is generally seen as one of the more pragmatic and cautious of Hamas’s front rank.