If it helps them kill infidels, Dark Ages savages don’t hesitate to use the technology of the West: Hamas launches television station in the Gaza Strip. (Hat tip: Laurence Simon.)

The Islamic Hamas group has launched a TV station in the Gaza Strip, a first step toward setting up a satellite station like the one Hezbollah guerrillas run in Lebanon, Hamas officials said Monday.

The Al-Aqsa Television station is being set up just weeks before the Palestinians’ January 25 parliamentary election, and if up and running in time, could help Hamas in its campaign, analysts said. Hamas presents a serious challenge to the ruling Fatah party, which has led the Palestinian Authority since its establishment in 1994.

The station broadcast a half-hour of readings from the Islamic holy book, the Quran, on Sunday, but nothing else due to technical difficulties, said a Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the issue.

During down times, a picture of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, one of Islam’s holiest shrines, fills the screen.

Once officially launched, Al-Aqsa Television will be the first private station in Gaza. Hamas says it wants the station to be high-tech and modern, not like the stodgy, state-run Arab stations.