By Jailan Halawi A statement smuggled out of prison through an Islamist lawyer, signed by 10 so-called historic leaders of the underground organisations Jihad and Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, is the latest in a series of the jailed leaders' appeals for an end to anti-government attacks. The leaders, who are serving life terms for their roles in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat, said they had decided to renew their call in response to a recent appeal by the Gama'a's jailed spiritual leader, , to Islamic groups to unite. Abdel-Rahman's statement, smuggled out of his New York prison, was addressed to his Cairo lawyer, Montasser El-Zayyat, a strong advocate of a truce between the government and militants, especially following last November's Luxor massacre. Al-Gama'a took responsibility for the attack, eroding any sympathy it might have had domestically. The move also led to an unprecedented show of support by the international community to the Egyptian government. Moreover, the attack triggered a dispute between the jailed "historic" leaders, who had issued a cease-fire appeal four months earlier, and the Gama'a's expatriate leaders. A source close to the expatriates told Al-Ahram Weekly that Abdel-Rahman's statement and the second statement signed by the leaders imprisoned in Egypt had led to a fresh dispute between the local and expatriate leaderships. "Abdel-Rahman's statement was misinterpreted by the press," the source said, "and the lawyer who leaked it [El-Zayyat] added words to it in order to make it sound like the sheikh now favours an end to violence and that there is a change in Al-Gama'a's strategy." Shortly after Abdel-Rahman's statement was made public, Al-Gama'a issued a statement on its Internet website raising similar questions. "Some newspapers and news agencies have published statements attributed to indicating that he supports the establishment of an international Islamic front to confront the dangers facing Islam by peaceful means, and that the sheikh excluded any other method," said the statement which appeared to be authentic. "In order to dissipate any misunderstanding, we would like to affirm that there has been no change in Al-Gama'a's strategy." Jihad, the statement said, "is a means of supporting religion. If this can be achieved by peaceful means, there is no need for inter-fighting among believers..." The statement signed by the 10 "historic" leaders, leaked from Tora prison, also reportedly angered the expatriates because it attempted to draw a distinction between fighting Israel and fighting the United States. The handwritten statement said the jailed leaders "support the stand of our brothers abroad distancing Al-Gama'a from the Front for Jihad against Americans". led by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden who has been held responsible for the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August. But the statement confirmed that "Al-Gama'a supports the Islamic nation in fighting for the liberation of the holy shrines in Jerusalem." Rifa'i Ahmed Taha, believed to be living in Afghanistan and widely regarded as the Gama'a's military commander, was one of six signatories of a statement declaring the creation of the bin Laden-led Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders in February. But shortly before the bombing of the US embassies on 7 August, Al-Gama'a published an interview with Taha on its Internet site, in which he denied that Al-Gama'a was part of that Front. Mustafa Kamel, also known as Abu Hamza, who runs an Islamic centre in London known for its close links to militants, said Al-Gama'a should dissolve itself "because the leaders of the group have started drawing distinctions between the enemies of Islam". He added that there was no difference between the US and Israel. "The statement [of the imprisoned leaders] is a betrayal of the blood of our martyrs," he said. But Abdel-Rahman's lawyer, El-Zayyat, denied that the jailed leaders had renounced any of their principles. He told the Weekly that they "are trying to solve a crisis [with the Egyptian government]. Why should they get themselves involved in another conflict [with the US]?" El-Zayyat added that "the fight against Zionism is a religious issue for both Muslims and Christians, but with America, the picture is different." He also vehemently denied that the latest statement signed by the jailed leaders was an indication of surrender. "These leaders have been in worse situations before, and they never changed their position," he said. "They will never give up their call for an Islamic society in Egypt and for the application of Islamic law. But their point of view now is that we have tried violence for 16 years, and could not reach our goal. So, we have to choose other means. Yet, we will remain strong opponents of the policies of the government." The Islamist lawyer, who was jailed in 1995 for allegedly acting as a spokesman for the Gama'a, argued that the current lull in the confrontation between the government and militants creates an appropriate climate for pushing forward the cease-fire call. He expressed fear, however, that the recent decision to put some 50 militants from the Jihad group on military trial could prove a "serious obstacle" in the current effort to clinch a truce. El-Zayyat also conceded that the Gama'a does not speak in one voice on the cease-fire issue. "The disputed point right now concerns guarantees. Some of the expatriate leaders want to get something in return for stopping the violence," he said. "However, we can now say that we are in a state of undeclared truce since we haven't seen any attacks by Al-Gama'a since February." El-Zayyat said that although Taha had issued a statement after the Luxor attack declaring that the group's leadership was considering the call for a cease-fire, "no decision has been reached yet". Adel Abdel-Meguid, a Jihad leader who was sentenced to death in absentia by a military court for allegedly plotting to kill tourists, expressed misgivings about efforts to reach a cease-fire. "The government has to stop first its suppression of Islamists and allow people to express their opinions freely in order to create the proper atmosphere for the violence to stop," he told the Weekly in a telephone interview from London. Abdel-Meguid, who was detained briefly by British authorities in their recent crackdown on militants living in London, also added that "there has been no change in Al-Gama'a's strategy" concerning the use of violence. He pointed out, however, that "violence was imposed on us and was not part of our original strategy in the first place."
