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Source: http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=171263
Hamas Fans Flames of Islamic Anger
(Jerusalem Post) Jonathan Spyer - Hamas leaders are seeking to escalate Palestinian unrest over the supposed Israeli threat to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem as they seek to supplant the West Bank Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad. By returning the focus of the conflict to the explosive issue of Islamic pride and outrage over the loss of holy places, Hamas can present itself as the natural leader of the Palestinians, and its opponents as collaborators. The flood of rhetoric from Hamas leaders derives from a concerted attempt to regain the political initiative on the Palestinian side. Hamas is seeking to foment a new uprising, based on Islamic fury. The mobilizing of anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish opinion on the basis of an imaginary threat to the Aksa Mosque has a long history. The most recent example was the decision to trigger the second intifada in 2000 after Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount. But as far back as 1929, agitators used arrangements for prayers at the Western Wall to incite country-wide attacks on Jews.