Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, recognized al-Qaida's presence in Gaza and the West Bank in 2006. He also warned of the "destruction of the whole region," because of the terrorist entity. This tends to confirm that al-Qaida is expanding in the neighborhood.

Signs of al-Qaida's infiltration in the Palestinian territories have been increasing in past years. In fact, Ely Karmon, the noted senior research scholar at The Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), confirmed that al-Qaida members who remained in the peninsula after the Sharm el-Sheikh terror attacks of July 2005 started then to move toward Gaza and the West Bank. The timing is telling since it coincides with Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. Also Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar acknowledged al-Qaida's presence in a September 2005 interview to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

One of the alleged al-Qaida linked terror groups is the 400-man strong Army of Islam (AI). AI emerged for the first time in June 2006 with the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in conjunction with Hamas. AI then claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston in Gaza. While the organization denies being a part of al-Qaida, it acknowledges that it is influenced by al-Qaida, but does not have direct links to it.

Another of these jihadist groups that have recently surfaced, the Army of Believers, is holding the same speech: "We have no organic links with al-Qaida, but we share its ideology. Our goal is not only to liberate Palestine, but to spread Islam everywhere." It is obviously difficult to know how far the connection goes with al-Qaida, but what is sure is that there is a breeding ground in Gaza for such groups. In fact, according to Samir Zoquout, from the Human rights group al-Mezan: "One cannot say if al-Qaida is really present here, but more and more groups are adopting its radical ideology, sometimes as a cover for criminal activities."

But there is a worrisome trend: these jihadist groups are gaining strength. The jihadists feed on the decision of Hamas to become a party in government, in a territory where the Sharia (Islamic law) is not applied. Also some are very unhappy about the recent truce concluded with Israel.

Therefore, Hamas has lost members of its armed wing to the Brigades of Allah or the Islamic Army of Jerusalem that killed a Palestinian Christian and attacked an American school, which was holding a show featuring a coed crowd of boys and girls aged six to 12. In this attack, one bodyguard was killed and seven people were injured including three children after the terrorists started shooting.

But that is not all: the French daily Le Figaro recently revealed that a few dozen foreigners, including half a dozen Frenchmen, entered from Egypt in January 2008, during the 11 days when the border with Gaza was forced open. They have since joined these jihadist groups and vow to fight Israel. Their presence has been confirmed not only by Hamas but by Western intelligence services including French authorities. In fact, weakened in Iraq, al-Qaeda seeks an exit door, and on jihadist forums is calling to "defend the sacred mosque of al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem" and is clearly sending recruits to Gaza.

Interestingly Hamas is trying to profit politically from this al-Qaida's emergence in Gaza. For example, Khaled Meshaal, the head of the political bureau of Hamas warns: "If you do not talk with us, you will soon have al-Qaeda as a neighbor." Isn't it ironic that the extremist Hamas is now presenting itself as a moderate?

If the cocktail was not explosive enough with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Fatah, now these additional al-Qaida-inspired groups are not boding well for the security of Israel and peace in the region.

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Olivier Guitta, an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and a foreign affairs and counterterrorism consultant, is the founder of the newsletter The Croissant (www.thecroissant.com). This is the 2nd of a two-part series.