Man bits dog: Egypt: Islamic leader blames Islamists for Israel's wars

That's not a typographical error and this doesn't happen that often...

 

Egypt: Islamic leader blames Islamists for Israel's wars

 

 

Cairo, 22 April (AKI) - 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.

 

More than 1,330 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli military offensive known as Operation Cast Lead and more than 5,400 were injured, according to Palestinian medical sources.

 

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