A Power Play In Hamas

Israel's assassination of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Hamas' leader in Gaza, has thrown the Islamic movement's chiefs into a panic. Coming less than a month after Israel eliminated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Rantisi's killing forced underground Gaza's political leaders. It also dangerously deepened fissures between the group's military and political factions. Fighters in its military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, fear that surviving political leaders are less committed than Rantisi was to attacking Israel, say senior Hamas sources in Gaza. Izzedine al-Qassam members want to strike back at Israel soon to avenge Rantisi's death and send a signal to the Bush Administration. They are outraged that Bush earlier this month endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to permanently keep parts of the occupied West Bank and that he said Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel should not expect to return there.

The military's new independence was signaled last week when Mohammed Deif, head of the military wing, had his cadre launch an unsanctioned barrage of missiles at Gaza settlements. Hamas leaders tell TIME that Deif, who lost an eye in an Israeli assassination attempt in 2002, will now look increasingly to powerful Hamas moneyman Khaled Meshaal for instructions and financial support. The group's chief fund raiser, who splits his time between Qatar and Syria, has become more assertive. When political leaders in Gaza were about to select a moderate as their new chief, he ordered them to delay the appointment. But Meshaal could in some ways be a moderating influence on the Gaza fighters. He is resisting pressure from some who, enraged by the Bush-Sharon deal, want to strike U.S. interests in the Middle East. Meshaal is said to fear that such attacks would anger supporters in the gulf who bankroll Hamas clinics and youth clubs but don't want to be seen as backing attacks on the U.S. Hamas sources tell TIME that some local leaders are threatening to join with malcontents from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction to form splinter terrorist cells that could go after U.S. targets. As the top power in Hamas, Meshaal will have to decide how to deal with the hotheads.