RAMALLAH Feb 15 (JMCC) - New Salafi movements that are growing in Gaza reject the Hamas movement's participation in the electoral process, reports AP. One follower said Hamas had abandoned the true tenets of Islam.
He said he had joined Hamas as a teen, but left when the movement participated in Palestinian elections in 2006. Democracy is wrong, the young man explained, since rule should only be by Islamic law. I felt Hamas was making too many compromises, he said. The student wore a white prayer cap and shin-length robe, a style Salafis believe emulates the dress worn at the time of Prophet Muhammad. The violent Salafi groups are inspired by al-Qaida but are not formally affiliated with it, according to a January study by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a U.S. think tank, co-authored by Yoram Cohen, the former Shin Bet official. It said Al-Qaida has not established an affiliate in the region nor accepted any of its locally radicalized, globally inclined jihadists. Read more from the AP...