Disclaimers on bombings may indicate split

THE ISLAMIC Hamas movement promptly disclaimed responsibility for co-ordinated bomb attacks near the Israeli settlements of Knfr Doron and Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip yesterday.

As five Palestinians were injured in one of the incidents, a mainstream Hamas spokesman claimed that the attacks had been carried out by Israeli intelligence to place blame on the Palestine Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, and force him to institute a full-scale crackdown on the movement.

The denial followed an anonymous telephone call to Israel's Arabic-language radio claiming Hamas was behind the bombings. The cycle of claim and counter- claim repeated the events of March 21st, when an anonymous caller first rang the same radio station to say Hamas was responsible for the suicide bombing which killed three Israeli women in a Tel Aviv cafe. Before a disclaimer was issued, a leading Hamas militant praised the bomber at a mass rally in the Gaza Strip.

Subsequently, reports appeared in the Israeli and western press that the man alleged to be the Tel Aviv bomber, Mr Mahmoud Ghanimat, did not fit the usual profile of a Hamas shakeed or martyr. He was too old at 28, married with four children, and regularly employed in Israeli restaurant kitchens at Rishon Lezion, near Tel Aviv. He also spoke Hebrew and spent week nights in an apartment near his work.

So far Hamas suicide bombers have been aged 19-20, unmarried, unemployed and fervent supporters of the movement.

One explanation put forward for this confusion is that Hamas has split into several factions. The Gaza leadership adopted a moderate line towards Mr Arafat. It accommodated his peace policies with the aim of joining mainstream Palestinian politics and fielding candidates in coming municipal elections.

The moderates attended a national unity conference staged by Mr Arafat at the end of February in the West Bank town of Nablus. Meanwhile, opponents of Mr Arafat and peace talks received verbal support from the more militant Hamas politburos in Damascus and Amman.

This factionalism at the top was compounded by a rift between Hamas's political wing and the paramilitary Izzedin al-Qassan brigades. The split was caused, in part, by a generation gap between the middle-aged professionals - doctors, dentists and engineers in the civilian leadership and angry, uneducated, unemployed youngsters in the brigades.

Another factor in the split was the wholesale campaign of arrests conducted by the Palestine Authority last year during which 1,200 Hamas men were imprisoned. By decapitating Hamas, the authority made way for young militants. The latest bombers may have come from units which left the command structure and act on their own.

In spite of this turmoil within the movement, the moderates prevailed until Israel began construction of the settlement at Jabal Abu Ghneim/Har Homa, offering militants the pretext to break the ceasefire observed since bombings killed 60 Israelis in February and March last year.

Ever sensitive to public opinion, the militants would have observed that Palestinian support for a renewal of attacks against Israelis had risen from 21 to 38 per cent over the past few months.

The combination of disunity and rising tension could yet produce more suicide bombings.