(IsraelNN.com) The Hizb ut Tahrir Islamic fundamentalist movement has become active among Palestinian Authority Arabs in Judea and Samaria, pushing a message that only restoring the Islamic caliphate and the rule of Islamic law, not Fatah or Hamas, holds the answer for the region.
According to National Public Radio (NPR), the group is arranging rallies and drumming up support while dodging security forces loyal to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who see the group as a threat.
"The coming of the caliphate threatens the Palestinian Authority regime and threatens the American interests in the area,” said Hizb ut Tahrir supporter Osama al-Ansari from Hebron, “They are harassing us because a caliphate will not provide for the existence of the Palestinian Authority."
Besides not recognizing the authority of the PA or Hamas, the group also does not accept democracy or the concept of the modern nation-state. While the group officially rejects violence, various counterterrorism agencies have argued that radical ideology such as that of Hizb ut Tahrir can be linked to terrorist attacks.
While more tolerated in Western countries, the group has been banned by several Mideast regimes.
The PA originally ignored the growth of Hizb ut Tahrir, hoping it would help divide the religious PA Arabs who were flocking to Hamas, senior editor at Al-Ayyam newspaper in Ramallah Khalil Shaheen told NPR. Now, he said, they are suffering from the consequences.
"It seems that everything is going out of control for the Palestinian Authority," Shaheen said. "The Tahrir party is getting more popular in the West Bank and is trying to fill the vacuum that took place after the weakness of Fatah itself."
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