by Saud Abu Ramadan, Li Weijie

    GAZA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- During a 20-hour fierce fighting Friday in southern Gaza town of Rafah, Islamic Hamas movement defeated the radical pro-al-Qaida Islamic Jihadi Salafi (Sunnite) group, which seeks to establish an Islamic emirate in the impoverished enclave.

    Analysts believe that following the clash, Hamas, which seized control of Gaza by ousting moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah security forces in 2007, bolstered its position as the only power to control the strip.

Palestinian Hamas policemen inspect a car at a check point in Gaza Strip, Aug. 15, 2009.(Xinhua/Wissam Nassar) Photo Gallery>>>

    ENFORCING POWER

    Hani Habib, a Palestinian political science lecturer at al-Azhar University in Gaza told Xinhua that "there is no doubt that Hamas has become the sole powerful force here after it broke the Jihadi Salafi."

    During the fighting with the group, deposed Hamas government's spokesman Taher al-Nounou said Friday that Hamas security forces "will strike with an iron fist on any group, whether it is Jihad Salafi or whoever that tries to play with Gaza's stability."

    Ihab al-Ghussein, spokesman of Hamas Interior Ministry said that his government "exerted efforts to convince the group to change its trend and get back to be normal Muslims," adding "when they refused and initiated their violent attacks on our forces, we had no choice but to harshly crack them down."

    Mekhemer Abu Se'da, a political science teacher at al-Azhar university told Xinhua that following the gun battle in Rafah, "Hamas movement wanted to send a powerful message to Gaza people that anybody that tries to harm order and discipline will be violently suppressed."

Palestinians attend the funeral of Hamas security forces killed in gunbattles with an Islamic redical group in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Aug. 15, 2009. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar) Photo Gallery>>>

    Hamas movement, founded in early 1988, called itself an Islamic resistance movement and vowed in its charter to destroy Israel and establish an Islamic state instead.

    However, after two decades, the group has become more politically mature and pragmatic. It has been strengthening its power not only through violence but also soft power to set up a medial image for Gazans and international community.

    On Friday, deposed premier of Hamas administration Ismail Haneya told prayers in northern Gaza that Hamas movement "is not a radical Islamic movement -- It is a medial movement that tries to avoid heresies and the use of apostasy terms."

    Over the past several weeks, the deposed Hamas government carried out a series of measures that restricted public liberty, which indicated that Hamas wanted to implement the Islamic Sharia (Islamic Law) peacefully, without forcing people to adopt it.

    Meanwhile, leaders of Hamas in both Gaza and Damascus had clearly said they accept an independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.

    They also expressed willingness to join any future peace plan that gives the Palestinians their rights.

    MESSAGE TO THE WEST

    To prove itself as a powerful popular group that is capable of ruling the future Palestinian state, the Islamic movement, which is an extension to the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood Movement and listed by Europe and the United States as a terrorist group, has also been trying to erase its bad name.

    By defeating the Jihadi Salafi group, which is considered as a pro-Qaida and internationally-banned radical group, Hamas wanted to send a message to the world that it is not a terrorist organization anymore.

    Habib said that Hamas wanted to show that, in spite of all claims of terrorist organization, "it has the ability to be part of leadership if a future state and it can make solutions through negotiations with the West and even with Israel, but without recognizing the Jewish state."

    He believed that Hamas is seeking an opportunity to have a direct dialogue with the West.

    "We see that Hamas is still committed to an undeclared truce with Israel and we noticed that Hamas is ready to ink any future deal with the West, or even with Israel," Habib said.

    However, Habib expressed concerns that Friday's clash "probably is not going to be the end, since there are still other minor radical armed groups. If Hamas fails to disarm them, "there might be more violent fighting in the future."

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