MIDDLE EAST: Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, secretary general of Islamic Jihad, led the extremist group's delegation to the conference for the support of the Palestinian people here at the weekend.
Hamas, the ruling Palestinian Islamist party, has observed a unilateral truce with Israel for more than a year, but Shalah's group never ceased suicide bombings. "We call them martyrdom operations," he corrects me at the onset of our interview.
Shalah, who lives in Damascus, estimates about 100 Islamic Jihad members have killed themselves attacking Israelis since September 2000. Though Shalah says the group has also carried out "hundreds of military operations", it is the suicide bombings that shock public opinion in the West.
How can he possibly justify such atrocities? "We don't justify it as a strategy," Shalah explains in English. (He holds a doctorate in economics from Durham University.) "We do it as a reaction to the crimes, atrocities and massacres committed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Why is killing Palestinians permissible? Why is invading our villages with tanks justified and legal, while the ultimate sacrifice is not?
He continues: "When people realise the miserable life they're leading is the most the Israelis will ever offer, they hope for a better life in the hereafter. It's about dignity; would you want to live as a slave in conditions that even animals in the West would not accept? Or would you prefer a better future with God? It's a kind of salvation for the individual, and a hope of liberation for an oppressed people." But, I insist, how can Islamic Jihad justify the killing of innocent Israeli women and children? Shalah mentions an interview the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, gave on April 11th, in which she said that Palestinians who attack Israeli soldiers are not "terrorists", while those who attack civilians are.
"Initially we did not target civilians," Shalah says. "We adopted this policy as a reaction to the killing of our civilians. Our people feel that Israelis must suffer as we suffer. It's not fair for them to live in peace in Tel Aviv, without knowing what Israeli soldiers do to us, while we're suffering in Khan Younis, Rafah and Nablus."
Islamic Jihad considered a truce proposed by the Egyptian government in March 2005, on condition the Israelis reciprocate. "But Israel did not stop assassinations, the demolition of houses and the confiscation of land for even one hour," Shalah says, adding that "Hamas intended to participate in the election, so it was to their benefit to maintain stability". He fears Palestinians are headed for a conflict between Hamas and Fatah.
"Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas] is trying to mobilise Arab countries to support him in a siege on Hamas, so Fatah can come back to power. We believe the Palestinian community should face the challenge of the Israeli occupation, not enter into internal strife, because the Israelis are offering the Palestinians nothing. We are trying to maintain a balance between Fatah and Hamas. "