Chapter Ten: Middle Eastern Terrorism in Metamorphosis

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Chapter TenMiddle Eastern Terrorism in
Metamorphosis
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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad
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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad

• Groups that operate under the name Islamic Jihad
• Hezbollahs umbrella included Islamic Jihad from
  1982 until 1988
• Other groups also use the name Islamic Jihad and
  operate in other countries

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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad

• The PIJ
• Emerged from Egypt
• The founders-- Fathi Shekaki, Abdul Aziz, and
  Bashir Musa-- wanted to create an Islamic state
  using military action

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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad

• Fathi Shekaki
• The PIJs first leader, Shekaki fell under the
  influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. He
  longed to take direct action against corrupt
  Muslim governments and the infidels who
  influenced them
• Shekaki supported the Iranian revolution he
  wanted no social program or general political
  movement he felt his small group should be
  devoted to one thing military action
• Shekaki was impressed with two of Hezbollahs
  innovations the umbrella-styled organization and
  the suicide bomber
• Shekaki found that by letting his group split, he
  became virtually invisible to his enemies

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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad

• The structure of the PIJ
• The U.S. Department of State sees the structure
  of the PIJ as a pillar of strength
• The PIJ was not concerned with claiming credit
  for operations, but it was concerned about
  killing Actions, not slogans and ideas, caused
  revolution

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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad

• Ramadan Abdullah Sallah
• Shekaki was assassinated by Israelis in Malta in
  1995
• Nine months before his death, Shekaki was
  interviewed by Time magazine in which he said
  there would be no peace until Israel was
  destroyed
• Shekakis successor, Ramadan Abdullah Sallah,
  maintained the Shekaki philosophy

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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad

• Funding
• The PIJ has an organized financial supporters
  around the world
• The United States
• Iran
• Syria

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Hamas
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Hamas

• Sheik Ahmed Yassin
• Yassin believed that Islam was the only path that
  could restore Palestine, and he preached reform
  and social welfare
• After being jailed, he decided in the future his
  organization would have a military wing

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Hamas

• Hamas and the Hamas Charter
• Hamas was formed in December 1987
• The Hamas Charter, published in 1988, declared
  that Palestine was God-given land, from Jordan to
  the Mediterranean. There could be no compromise
  with the Israelis, and Israel could not be
  allowed to exist
• Hamas would be much more than a military
  organization it would be a Muslim government

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Hamas

• The Hamas organization
• Political Wing
• Oversees international and foreign relations
• Social Wing
• The largest unit, Hamas runs charities, schools,
  hospitals, and other social service organizations
• Military Wing
• The Izz el Din al Qassam Brigades is named after
  a martyr during the period of British occupation
  of Palestine and forms the military striking
  power of Hamas

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Hamas

• Musa Abu Marzuq
• After the first Intifada, Hamas faced an internal
  power struggle
• Yassin was jailed from 1989 to 1997
• The American educated Musa Abu Marzuq took over
  Hamas, and his strategy was much more violent
  than Yassins
• Marzuq assembled a new leadership core and based
  it in Lebanon. He also sought financial backing
  from Syria and Iran
• In 1996, Marzuq authorized a campaign of suicide
  bombing inside Israel. The PIJ launched one at
  the same time, and both campaigns continued into
  1997
• After Yassin was released from prison in 1997, he
  reasserted control over Hamas

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Hamas

• 2003 peace effort
• In the summer of 2003, Palestinian prime minister
  Mahmud Abbas brokered a limited cease-fire,
  asking Hamas, the PIJ, and related groups to end
  their campaigns
• The peace effort ended in August after a suicide
  bombing on a bus in Jerusalem. The Israelis
  responded by renewing a policy of selective
  assassination
• Hamas passed another milestone in the campaign
  against Israel It used a female suicide bomber
  in a joint operation with a newer group, the al
  Aqsa Martyrs Brigades

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Hamas

• The future of Hamas
• In March 2004 Yassin was leaving a mosque in Gaza
  when Israeli helicopters appeared and fired three
  missiles at him
• Hammas announced Yassins replacement, Abdel Aziz
  Rantisi, an old member of the group of the inside
  faction. The Israelis assassinated Rantisi after
  he took office
• A new leader was appointed but his identity was
  kept secret
• Reuvan Paz senses a shift in Hammas thinking
• In August 2004, U.S. and Iraqi forces battled the
  Shiite militia of Maqtada al Sadr in Najaf, Iraq
• Hamas had two interesting communiqués in the wake
  of this battle The first one condemned the
  United States for fighting around Najaf, the site
  of a Shiite holy shrine and the second release
  called upon Iraqis to support the militia of
  Maqtada al Sadr
• By voicing support for Iranian-styled Shiites
  and not Shiites in general, Hammas is falling
  into Hezbollahs orbit

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The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
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The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade

• The al Aqsa Intifada
• Suicide bombing became the most important tactic
  of all the Palestinian terrorist groups at the
  beginning of the al Aqsa Intifada.
• Hezbollah, Hamas, and the PIJ were in the
  forefront
• Fatah also became involved. If Fatah wanted to
  play a leading role, it had to move from the
  secular to the religious realm

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The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade

• Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
• The Brigades began as a secular group, but they
  increasingly used Jihadist rhetoric
• They were the first secular Palestinian group to
  use suicide tactics
• The goal of the Brigades is to stop Israeli
  incursions and attacks in Palestinian areas, and
  they intend to punish Israel for each attack

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The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade

• Tactics of the Brigades
• The Brigades primary tactics have been drive-by
  shootings, snipers, ambushes, and kidnap-murders
• The use of the suicide bombers were frightening
  for two reasons
• They were secular
• They sought out crowded civilian targets

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The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade

• Leadership of the Brigades
• One school of thought maintains that Arafat led
  and paid for the Brigades
• The Israelis say that Arafat may not have
  determined targeting and timing, but he paid the
  expenses and set the agenda
• A BBC News investigation points to Marwan
  Barghouti as the commander
• Arafat claimed he knew nothing about the Brigades

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The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade

• Structure of the Brigades
• The Brigades have little centralized structure
• Cells exist in several Palestinians communities,
  and leaders are empowered to take action on their
  own without the approval from a hierarchy
• The managerial relations within the Brigades
  remain a paradox, even to the Palestinians
• No obvious leadership struggle has occurred
  within the Brigades since Arafats death

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Jewish Fundamentalist Groups in Israel and
Palestine
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Jewish Fundamentalist Groups in Israel and
Palestine

• Militant Judaism
• Militant Judaism is based on the biblical notion
  that God has promised to restore the state of
  Israel
• The theology is racist, eschatological, and
  linked to the conquest and possession of territory

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Jewish Fundamentalist Groups in Israel and
Palestine

• Kach and Kahane Chai
• Kach was created by Rabbi Meir Kahane
• In 1968, Kahane created the Jewish Defense League
• Moving to Israel in 1971, Kahane combined
  politics and biblical literalism to demand that
  all Arabs be expelled from territories occupied
  by Israel
• Kahane was assassinated in 1990 in the United
  States, and Kahanes son, Benjamin, created a new
  group, Kahane Chai
• Kach and Kahane are committed to stopping any
  peace proposal that recognizes the territorial
  rights of Palestinians
• Kach and Kahane Chai have defined Gods biblical
  promises in terms of territory

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Jewish Fundamentalist Groups in Israel and
Palestine

• Gush Emunim
• Gush Emunim has the same set of beliefs as the
  violent fundamentalists, but their rhetoric
  appears normative compared with the violent
  rhetoric of other groups. This has generated
  political support

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Jewish Fundamentalist Groups in Israel and
Palestine

• Problems with Jewish militant extremism and the
  prospects for peace
• Extremists denounce the existing social order
  because it is not racially pure
• The extremists claim the exclusive right to
  determine the truth
• Extremists advocate an ideal order, and Gush
  Emunim and Kach claim the Messiah can only return
  once the existing order is purified
• The national identity of Israel and its political
  legitimacy can only be determined through
  religion
• All current events are defined within a narrow
  set of beliefs that define a limited worldview
  and identify only a few people as being chosen by
  God

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Jewish Fundamentalist Groups in Israel and
Palestine

• Moshe Amon
• Amon believes that Israel was founded on secular
  principles but that Jewish Orthodox extremists
  gain control over government policy
• To create an opportunity for some type of
  peaceful settlement, all religious extremism must
  come to an end

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Controversial Counterterrorist Policies
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Controversial Counterterrorist Policies

• Counterterrorist Services
• Mossad- The Israeli intelligence service
• Shin Beth- The domestic Israeli security service
• The IDF
• The Israeli police

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Controversial Counterterrorist Policies

• Bulldozing
• When Israel first faced suicide bombings, the
  government implemented a controversial policy
  called bulldozing whose purpose was to destroy
  the family homes of suicide bombers
• Security Fence
• The bulldozing policy expanded to include
  clearing ground for military reasons and clearing
  space to build a security fence, that is, a wall
  separating Israel from Palestinian areas

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Controversial Counterterrorist Policies

• Punishing Lebanon for the sins of Hezbollah
• The Israelis destroyed bridges, power plants, and
  other infrastructure targets in Operation Grapes
  of Wrath
• The Israelis wanted to hurt Lebanon to force its
  government to clam down on Hezbollah

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Controversial Counterterrorist Policies

• Construction of a massive wall
• The concrete and barbed-wire barrier snaked
  trough Palestinian areas, often putting water and
  other resources in the hands of the Israelis
• It also separated people from services, jobs, and
  their families

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Controversial Counterterrorist Policies

• Selective assassination
• Left-wing leaders in Israel deplore this policy,
  calling such assassinations gangster murders
• Human rights groups have condemned the policy and
  challenged it in Israeli courts