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Hat Tip: MakingSenseOfJihad.com

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KA07Ak01.html

Jan 7, 2009

“Al-Qaeda sniffs opportunity in Gaza”
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “KARACHI - The ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza against Hamas, which has aroused the Arab street, although Egypt and Saudi Arabia support the action, opens the possibility of al-Qaeda capitalizing on the widespread discord in the region.

Asia Times Online investigations, including interviews with people associated with al-Qaeda, reveal that the central leadership of al-Qaeda, sitting somewhere in the tribal areas straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan, sees the Gaza conflict as a major opportunity to inflame the war theater in Gaza and make it a permanent trouble spot for Israel and Egypt, just as al-Qaeda-led areas of conflict have created seemingly intractable difficulties for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Capitalizing on the Gaza unrest would be consistent with al-Qaeda’s vision of reviving a caliphate to centralize Muslim resistance in its capacity as a non-state actor.”