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Al-Qaida in Gaza has a message.

Palestinians: Al-Qaeda Attacked School

Palestinian Authority officials have blamed al-Qaeda for an attack on a school celebration, in part because the terrorists believed that girls and boys would dance together at the event. They allege that AQ has established a foothold in Gaza, and more attacks will follow:

Palestinian Authority security officials accused supporters of al-Qaida in the Gaza Strip of carrying out Sunday’s attack on a UNRWA-run school in Rafah in which one person was killed and six others were wounded.
“There is no doubt that al-Qaida is operating in the Gaza Strip,” a senior PA security official said. “Today’s attack carries the fingerprints of al-Qaida.”

Witnesses told The Jerusalem Post that at least 70 Muslim fundamentalists participated in the attack on the Omariya School, where UNRWA and PA officials were attending a celebration.

The director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip, John Ging, was inside the school at the time. He was not hurt, as PA policemen whisked him away to a safe location.

Despite lobbing grenades and opening fire with automatic weapons, the attackers only managed to kill one person. They had organized the attack, according to witnesses, in significant numbers. Perhaps as many as 70 terrorists took part in the operation, and they continued to attack the vehicles fleeing the school.

Analysts believe that the terrorists belong to an AQ-affiliated Salafist group, rather than Hamas. They have conducted an increasing level of attacks on Gaza targets over the last two years. They typically target schools, Internet cafés, hair salons, and the like, and this school fits the profile.

While they share an Islamist philosophy, they apparently also share a lunatic desire to kill everyone who doesn’t agree with them on all points. The Salafists or Wahhabis want rule by imams and shari’a law, and violently disagree with the political involvement of Hamas and the PA altogether. The AQ groups have assassinated Hamas figures, and Hamas has returned the favor.

Attacking schools is what the radical Islamists did in Beslan. This time they failed to do much damage, but the situation in Gaza since the exit of the Israelis has seriously deteriorated, and the West cannot pretend much longer that they have a nascent staging ground for AQ attacks. Even the Palestinians have begun to figure that much out.

Link: http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/009898.php