Excellent company for Zarqawi tonight

Ha'aretz is reporting that Jamal Abu Samhadana was killed by an Israeli Air Force strike tonight.

Ha'aretz describes him as the "Popular Resistance Committee chief", a "key player in rocket attacks on Israel" and as being a suspect in the 2003 bombing of a US motor convoy in Gaza.

That's only a fraction of what there is to know about Samhadana.

He was actually appointed the leader of the recently established Hamas security force, set up to rival the Fatah led Palestinian Authority security forces. Since then the two "security forces" have been having regular and sometimes fatal clashes on the streets of Gaza.

But surely the most important thing to know about him is that this "security chief" was actually the head of the most powerful mafia-style criminal clan in Gaza. As I posted back in April, his clan and others like it use the label of resistance to cover their enterprises of smuggling, extortion and kidnapping:

The names Maswapir, Abu Amra, Abu Samhadana, and the Abu Rish Brigades are little known outside the Palestinian Authority (PA). But they are well-known to Palestinians. These groups, and about two dozen other clan-based militias, will determine the fate of Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal.

In the Western press, the focus has been on Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, thanks to their spectacular and horrific suicide attacks against Jewish targets. When mentioned at all in the media, the clan-based groups are usually grouped under the rubric of the "Popular Resistance Committees." As intended, the label sounds gloriously nationalistic. However, the real concerns of these militias are far more parochial and selfish.

Rooted in well-established kin groups, most are well-financed. Some run highly-profitable extortion, smuggling,prositute trafficking,  illegal land-grab and kidnapping rings. Many have members who draw salaries from the PA's security services. Some are said by the Israelis to be financed by Iran, through payments funneled through Hezbollah and Syria.

These clan-based forces regularly defy the official PA administration, attacking PA officials, including judges and security officials ,when crossed. On the rare occasions when their members are arrested, they have mounted kidnapping expeditions of Palestinian officials and foreign aid workers to use as bargaining chips.

Samhadana shared with Zarqawi a virulent and active anti-semitism:

We have only one enemy. They are Jews. We have no other enemy. I will continue to carry the rifle and pull the trigger whenever required to defend my people."

The BBC report tonight describes him as a "senior Palestinian official" and a "senior security chief"

This is the typically measured response from the "Popular Resistance Committees":

The Zionists and Israelis have opened the gates of hell by assassinating Abu Samhadana," said PRC spokesman Abu Abir.

"The Zionist entity and Zionist settlements near Gaza will not feel security and safety any more. Our rockets will rain into the Zionist entity and our heroes will blow themselves up among their dirty bodies,"

I guess he and Zarqawi richly deserve the fate they've met today.

Comments

[Family Cohen Yerushalayim I"H]

It was obviously a good day for the Jews yesterday!

[Gharqad_Tree]

Is there anyone at the BBC who gets it? I mean, is there one single reporter or correspondant who is willing to call a murderer a murderer, a terrorist a terrorist, and who understands the moral difference between the actions of the Defence Forces of a democratically accountable government and the deliberate murder campaign of religiously-inspired death squads? What kind of world do the BBC want?

[david]

The BBC website describes him as 'a militant'. I'm paying for that?

[szenidedatz]

Hamastan's 'senior security chief' (BBC News Online) apparently was behind rockets fired into Israel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5062360.stm
And the BBC never tires of reminding us that Hamas is keeping a cease-fire with Israel. Perhaps, for BBC, bombing Sderot is part of this cease-fire