Hamas' YouTube-inspired site hits the internet (News Feature)

By Saud Abu Ramadan Oct 15, 2008, 15:53 GMT

Gaza City - Featuring content ranging from relatively conservative Syrian social drama to videos glorifying al-Qaeda, the Islamic Hamas movement has launched its answer to the popular YouTube internet site.

The Hamas version, AqsaTube, shows real-time videos about the Islamist movement and is, the website wrote in its introduction about itself, 'the first Palestinian website specializing in Islamic and jihad audio-visual productions.'

'This site shows the latest Palestinian and Arab audios and videos about the politics, sport, jihad and many things that it would take so long to list here,' the 'About Us' section of the site says.

In addition, the site features the popular Syrian television drama, Bab al-Hara, or The Neighborhood Gate, relating to al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, and videos of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, whose Fatah movement is locked in a bitter, and sometimes violent, struggle with Hamas.

According to the site's statistics, 2,143 of its registered members signed in at the same time in the middle of August.

AqsaTube was mostly unknown, except to Hamas supporters, until a few days ago when the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre (ITIC), an Israeli think tank, reported on the site, warning that it was dedicated to spreading propaganda and incitement against Israel.

The report also showed that there was a link between AqsaTube and Hamas' Gaza-based satellite channel, al-Aqsa TV, which 'increases the number of its viewers and enables it to bypass restrictions on its broadcasts,' the ITIC said.

Hamas internet forums have launched a campaign, urging their members to show solidarity and sympathy with AqsaTube in the wake of European reports that accused the website of encouraging terrorism.

'Where is the freedom of expression that the West used to call for?' a member of the Palestinian Dialogue Network, a Hamas forum, wrote. 'This exposes the West's blemishes.'

Another member, who called himself Mohammed Ali, wrote that the recent European reports about Aqs Tube 'were part of the war against Islam,' after an Italian report accused the website of sponsoring the terrorism.