Analysis of a Popular Resistance
Committees' poster showing
clear influence of Hezbollah, Hamas & radical Islam in general
Intelligence and
Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)
Special Information
Bulletin August 2004
Analysis of a Popular
Resistance Committees' poster showing clear influence of Hezbollah, Hamas and radical Islam
in general
http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/8_04/poster.htm
|
Poster
commemorating Muhammad Subhi 'Awaji, a terrorist killed in an attack on an Israeli army outpost in the
southern Gaza Strip (September 2001)
|
|
HEZBOLLAH
|
POPULAR
RESISTANCE COMMITTEE
|
|
The emblem of Hezbollah inspired that of the Popular Resistance
Committees, as well as
those of Hamas and the operational wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Jerusalem
Battalions. |
Comparison
of
the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and Hezbollah emblems:
The PRC emblem has
the word mukamawah (active resistance) and a number of elements indicative of the
organization's orientation: an upraised hand holding an assault rifle, a militant
verse from the Qur'an and the map of " Palestine" and a mosque
(symbolizing Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem) in the interstices between the letters.
Encircling all is the Palestinian flag. The message conveyed is the liberation of
" Palestine" and the Temple Mount and Jerusalem through armed insurrection .
|
|
|
The emblem is similar to that of Hezbollah, with
subtle differences. The globe on the Hezbollah emblem
symbolizes its identity as a global organization although it is centered
in Lebanon, while the PRC emblem expresses its Palestinian identity.
The slogans above the
rifle suggest that victory belongs to Muhammad and his followers (Hezbollah), and that
Israelis and Jews should be killed indiscriminately |
The Hezbollah slogan refers to a verse from the
Qur'an: "Only [those belonging to] the flock of Allah
[i.e., Muhammad and his followers] are victorious." The PRC slogan refers to
a different Qur'an verse: "Slay them wherever you catch them."1 The verse
applies to Muslim warriors who are ordered to kill their enemies
wherever they find them, that is, indiscriminately and mercilessly . In
the context of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, it applies
to the indiscriminate murder of Israelis and Jews and provides a legitimization for the
suicide bombing attacks .
[1. The verse appears
twice in the Qur'an: in Surah Al-Baqarah (2) verse 191, and Surah Al-Nisa'a (4) verse
91.]
|
|
|
The Qur'an verse at the bottom of the poster is often used by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist
organizations to encourage suicide bombing attacks . It suggests that suicide
bombers do not die but rather remain alive and that Allah takes tends to
their needs:-
"Think not of those who are slain for
the sake of Allah as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the
presence of their Lord" [Surah 3 (Al 'Imran) verse 169], one of the more
familiar "suicide bomber verses."
|
The death notice of shaheed (martyr
for the sake of Allah) Ahmad Muhammad' Awaji appears in the top part of the
poster, and its wording is often used in death notices by Hamas :-
a."The Popular
Resistance Committees and their military wing, the victorious Salah al-Din Brigades,
[sorrowfully announce the death of] the shaheed, the warrior in the holy war
[jihad], Ahmad Muhammad 'Awaji (al-Zarouki) the general of hand
grenades and knight of military confrontations in the city of Rafah,
who will be rewarded [by Allah in the hope that he will be defended by his
virtue on the day of judgment.]
b.Signed (at bottom left),
"The victorious Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees of
Palestine."
Ahmad Muhammad Subhi ' Awaji was born
in 1983 and fatally wounded during a joint PRC-Hamas attack on an
Israeli army outpost in the southern Gaza Strip (September 26, 2001).
The center of the
poster shows a picture of ' Awaji with an assault rifle in one hand and a Qur'an in the other.
To the left is a battle cry reading "Oh Jerusalem, we are coming," also
Hezbollah inspired.
|
|
|
The cries "Oh Jerusalem, we are
coming" or "Oh Jerusalem, we now arrive" appear often in Hezbollah propaganda,
for example:-
Picture of a child in
the Hezbollah ranks wearing a headband reading "Oh Jerusalem, we are coming."
|
Hezbollah operatives being enlisted,
swearing with upraised arms to fight Israel. They are wearing headbands
reading "We are coming." In the background is a Palestinian flag.
|
|
