Hamas attempts to shake off moderate tag

Gaza City: Hamas, the Palestinian faction viewed by many in the West as a nest of extremists, is battling a curious new epithet: moderate.

Fifteen months after an Israeli invasion failed to dislodge Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip, rival resistance groups and some former supporters say the organisation has become too political, too secular and too soft.

"People in the street say Hamas has changed," said Abu Ahmad, spokesman for the military wing of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group in Gaza that complained recently that Hamas had arrested four of its fighters as they tried to attack Israeli soldiers near the border.

"They're paying a price for that. People need to know that Hamas is still committed to the resistance."

As it struggles with tensions between its political and military wings, Hamas faces the classic juggling act of an armed resistance group that suddenly finds itself running a government rather than fighting to overthrow one. Some see a window for the West to reach out to Hamas moderates.

Rockets

To many in the United States and Israel, Hamas is hardly moderate. The US and Israel still label it a "terrorist" organisation for its past use of suicide bombers.

But people in Gaza note that Hamas hasn't fired rockets at Israel since January 2009 and has pressured other armed groups to follow suit.

In January this year, Hamas shocked other resistance groups by issuing, for the first time, a written order that said rocket attacks were against the "Palestinian national interest" and threatened to arrest anyone caught in the act.

Palestinian hardliners say that instead of attacking Israel, Hamas has been fighting its own people.

So far, the resistance groups, which on the web accuse Hamas of being infidels and criminals, have been small and easily crushed by Hamas. But they are blamed for a string of recent bomb attacks in Gaza, some targeting Hamas security members' homes, offices and cars.

An early sign of Hamas' predicament came in August, when the leader of the so-called Army of God's Helpers declared Gaza an "Islamic emirate" under his control. Hamas fighters killed him and about two dozen others in a fiery clash.

This month, a new group announced that it would exact revenge for that battle, saying it had organised 200 fighters to confront Hamas. In what many here saw as an attempt to counter such criticism, Hamas claimed responsibility last month for killing two Israeli soldiers who were ambushed after crossing into Gaza. But Israeli officials and Islamic Jihad leaders said that Islamic Jihad conducted the operation.