The fine line between moderate and extreme
By Danny Rubinstein
Haaretz, March 23, 2004
The assassination of Ahmed Yassin will apparently enhance the stature and increase the strength of the extremist camp in Hamas.
The Palestinians distinguish between extremists and moderates in Hamas, and those who accept that distinction have long made note of the way foreign Hamas officials take a harder line than Hamas leaders in the Palestinian territories.
The distinction could be seen in the last two years, with regard to the hudna (cease-fire), which last summer the government of Mahmoud Abbas managed to cobble together.
Among Hamas leaders in Gaza there were those who spoke in favor of the hudna, such as Ismail Haniyeh, who was Yassin's bureau chief, and those who spoke against the hudna, like Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
Yassin was considered "domestic" Hamas, because he lived in Gaza, but his authority reached overseas because he was obeyed by all - and not only on political and security matters - and especially when it concerned ideology. That's why he was considered "spiritual leader" of the movement and as such does not have a replacement.
The "foreign" leadership of Hamas includes Khaled Mashal, head of the politburo; Moussa Abu Marzuk; Ibrahim Rusha and Mohammed Nazal. For years they took hardline positions, for among other reasons because they did not feel any pressure from Gaza residents who suffered because of Israeli retaliations, or loss of work as a result of terror attacks. Nor was there any particular pressure on them from either Israel or the Palestinian Authority and they had financial backing from entities that supported terror, such as Iran.
But the foreign leadership was weakened when it was banished from Jordan. Now they will be strengthened, because there is no authority over them, such as Yassin, who was always a balancing force between the foreign and domestic leaderships.
The most (relatively) moderate of Hamas political activists was Ismail Abu Shanab, assassinated last year by Israel and the most extreme was Ibrahim Makadme, also assassinated last year. Makadme was the link between the political and military wings of the movement.
Rantisi has been most poisonously anti-Israeli in recent months, and he has been considered the number two behind Yassin and is now likely to take up Yassin's political role. The opposition to him inside Hamas will focus on Haniyeh and Mahmoud al-Zahar.
So far, Hamas has evaded any responsibility for government in the Gaza Strip, vehemently refusing any partnership with the Palestinian Authority. Yassin dictated that position, which is not likely to change in the near future.
But it is clear that the assassination of Yassin precludes any possibility the Palestinian government will be able to take any steps to restrain the organization, which has only seen its prestige enhanced by the assassination of its leader, winning unprecedented sympathy for the movement among Palestinians and elsewhere in the Arab world.
