Of course, so do Hamas and Fatah. –˜Army of Islam” wants Islamic Palestinian state: Website,” from AFP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
PARIS – The “Army of Islam,” which was involved in a brazen raid by Palestinian militants on an Israeli army post, vowed Tuesday to continue attacks until an Islamic state is established in the Palestine territories.
“Your brethren in the Army of Islam carried out an operation, along with the (Ezzedine) Al Qassam Brigades (Hamas”s armed wing) and the Al Nasser Salaheddin Brigades (of the Popular Resistance Committees), which heralds other operations … aimed at establishing an Islamic caliphate,” an Internet statement said.
The statement was posted on several Islamist websites, including one used by Al Qaeda’s branch and other armed groups in Iraq.
The statement, in the form of a fax message, carries on top the group’s name with an emblem featuring a globe partially covered by a book that seems to be the Koran and a sword.
The emblem carries the Muslim profession of faith, “There is no God but God and Mohammed is the prophet of God.”
The Army of Islam first appeared in May by distributing leaflets in the Palestinian territories. According to Israeli press reports, the Israeli secret service suspected the group of having links with Al Qaeda.
“We are not waging jihad (holy war) for the sake of (recovering) a plot of land, illusory frontiers or nationalism … Our jihad is much loftier,” a statement said.
“This religion (Islam) will not be able to triumph through a generation made rotten by (worldly) pleasures or broken by the security services of tyrannical governments,” it said.
“Our jihad is based on a solid foundation and aims to end occupation and tyranny as a prelude to the establishment of an Islamic caliphate” in the Palestine territories, the group added.
It did not define what the borders of the caliphate should be. The standard view among Palestinian Islamists has always included not only the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but also the territory covered by Israel.