GAZA, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The founder and leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, said Saturday that Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation has no need for Osama bin Laden's al Qaida, denying Israeli reports the terrorist network had recruited Palestinians.
Instead, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin accused Israeli intelligence agents of enlisting Palestinian collaborators and labelling them members of al Qaida "to equal Palestinian freedom fighters with al Qaida people."
He said, "I don't think we need an extra armed group to be added to all these Palestinian military groups that are fighting the Israeli army occupation."
Yassin granted United Press International an interview in the Gaza Strip as his organization celebrated its 15th anniversary. Hamas -- short for the group's Arabic name Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya as well as the Arabic word meaning a combination of "fervor" and "bravery" -- grew out of the first Palestinian Intifada of 1987-1990.
Like the uprising that erupted again in September 2000, the first Intifada evolved from spontaneous unrest to an organized revolt, due in part to the rise of Hamas. And as before, Israeli forces have moved into several Palestinian towns and lands in an effort to control the uprising and stop attacks against Israelis.
The sheikh, 66 years old with a flowing gray beard, confirmed Hamas representatives met several weeks ago with those of Fatah, the resistance movement chaired by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who had tried to convince Hamas to stop targeting Israeli civilians. But Yassin firmly added his group's armed wing, Izel Dein Al Qassam, would never stop its suicide bombings and other attacks on Israel -- and as long as Israeli forces targeted Palestinian civilians, Hamas would target Israeli civilians.
He said his movement had agreed then to halt attacks and indeed had done so. "But Israel unfortunately did not respect the Palestinians and continued its aggression against them," he asserted. "They (the Palestinian Authority) say that stopping attacks into Israel would help the left wing in Israel to win. I would tell them that stopping attacks would support (Ariel) Sharon and make him win in the elections."
Israelis are scheduled to hold elections on Jan. 28 that will determine both prime minister and makeup of its parliament, the Knesset. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his hawkish Likud party is currently leading the candidate for the Labor Party, the more dovish Amram Mitzna.
"It is not reasonable to keep our children, women and aged people losing security while Israelis are enjoying it," said Yassin. "No one will prevent us continuing our jihad (holy struggle) against Israel."
However the sheikh, speaking from a wheelchair in which he is confined due to paralysis, insisted Hamas was not interested in overthrowing the Palestinian Authority nor in replacing it should the governing body for the Palestinian territories collapse.
"Hamas has announced several times that it doesn't look for taking authority from the Palestinian Authority, because our main goal is not the authority -- the goal is to get rid of the occupation," he said. But in fact, he asserted, there is no authority in the Palestinian territories as long as Israel occupies most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"In such circumstances of occupation and aggression, we are not in need for authority. Once the occupation ends, our people would have to right to choose their own authority," he said.
The comments reflected the Hamas contention that recognizing the Palestinian Authority would acknowledge the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords that established it -- an agreement itself that Hamas refuses to recognize, nor the Israeli state that signed it. Since then, Arafat has tried to drawn the movement into the Palestinian structure instead of challenging it directly.
Hamas was an outgrowth of the Egyptian organization Muslim Brotherhood, which began in the early 1900s as an effort to drive out Western influence, particularly the British, from the region. Muslim Brotherhood members spread to the areas of Palestine, a British protectorate until the United Nations established Israeli statehood there after World War II.
In the tradition of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas has worked to develop social structure in the Palestinian territories and particularly the Gaza Strip, the small but crowded swath of land on the Mediterranean coast just north of Egypt. Building schools, community centers and hospitals has rallied extensive popular support for the group among Palestinians.
On Friday evening thousands of Hamas supporters celebrated the movement's 15th anniversary in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. Palestinians waving green flags gathered at a playground in the town, where banners draped the walls, and shouted that the Hamas movement was born to fight the Israeli occupation and to gain the stolen rights of the Palestinian people. They also chanted slogans calling upon the movement's militants to carry out more attacks against Israel in revenge for killing Palestinian militants.
Yassin was released from an Israeli jail during a prisoner exchange in 1997, following an Israeli crackdown on Hamas for a series of bus bombings in 1996. Much of the Hamas leadership fled to Jordan, where they kept their headquarters until King Abdullah II ascended the throne in 1999.
