Islamic Jihad (Palestinian)

  
General Political Palestinian group dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the creation of a pan-Islamic empire throughout the Middle East. The Islamic Jihad's popularity is growing among the Palestinian population and the organization frequently sends suicide bombers on destructive missions against Israeli targets.

  
 
Ideology
The Islamic Jihad (Holy war) aspires to overthrow secular Arab regimes in order to establish an Islamic pan-Arab empire. The Jihad is unique among the Islamic movements, however, in that it views war against the Jews and Israel ("the spearhead of the West and imperialism in the region") as an initial, essential step toward fulfilling the goals of Islam.
  
 
Activities
The group has been active on the political scene in the Territories, mainly in the Gaza Strip, among students and intellectuals. Until the foundation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the Islamic Jihad groups did not have connections to Hamas, and were regarded even as rivals in the Gaza Strip. Since then, and mainly after Hamas switched to the strategy of suicide terrorist bombings, there was some operational cooperation between the two organizations in carrying out attacks.

The group has offices in Beirut, Damascus, Tehran and Khartoum, and its activity is focused in Lebanon as well. It has some influence in the Gaza Strip, mainly in the Islamic University, but not in a way that can endanger the dominant position of Hamas as the leading Islamic Palestinian organization.

During the 1980s several other groups of Palestinian Islamic Jihad were formed, but the main faction which has survived is the group founded by Dr. Fathi Shekaki.

  
 
Strength


Not known, but probably several thousand hardcore members.

  
 
Additional Information
Palestinian students in Egypt, who had split from the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, founded the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 1979-80. The founders - Sheikh Abed el-Aziz Ouda, Dr. Fathi Shekaki and Bashir Musa - proposed a new ideological program, which became the basis for the new organization. They claimed that the unity of the Islamic world was not a precondition for the liberation of Palestine, but on the contrary, the liberation of Palestine by the Islamic movements was the key to the unification of the Arab and Islamic world.

After being expelled from Egypt they returned to the Gaza Strip where they formally began their activity as an Islamic Jihad organization. In August 1988 Shekaki and Ouda were expelled to Lebanon, where Shekaki reorganized the faction, maintaining close contacts with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards unit stationed in Lebanon and with Hizbullah. He was killed in October 1995 in Malta, allegedly by Israeli agents.

  
 
Source: The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism