TheIslamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (Arabic:حركة الجهاد الإسلامي في فلسطين,Ḥarakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn), commonly known simply asPalestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is aPalestinianIslamistparamilitary organization formed in 1981.[5]
The armed wing of PIJ isAl-Quds Brigades (also known as "Saraya"), also formed in 1981, which is active in theWest Bank and theGaza Strip, with its main strongholds in the West Bank being the cities ofHebron andJenin. Its operations have includedsuicide bombings, attacks on Israeli civilians, as well as the firing of rockets into Israel, targeting civilians. PIJ has been designated aterrorist organization by the United States,[14] the European Union,[15] the United Kingdom,[16] Canada,[17] Australia,[7] New Zealand[18][19] and Israel.[20]
PIJ was formally established inGaza in 1981 by two Palestinian activists:Fathi abd al-Aziz Shaqaqi, a Rafah-based physician, andShaykh Abd al-Aziz Awda, an Islamic preacher from the Jabaliyya refugee camp, as well asRamadan Shalah, Bashir Moussa, and three other Palestinian radicals. Based inEgypt, Shaqaqi and Awda were originally members of theMuslim Brotherhood. Their views on the destruction of Israel led them in 1979 to establish Islamic Jihad-Shaqaqi Faction, a branch of theEgyptian Islamic Jihad.[21] and conducted operations out of Egypt. The Shaqaqi Faction was expelled from Egypt in 1981, following theassassination of Anwar Sadat, the 3rdPresident of Egypt, by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.[22] Shaqaqi and Awda returned to Gaza where they formally established PIJ,[23][24] from where it continued its operations.
The aim of the organization was the establishment of a sovereignIslamicPalestinian state within the geographic borders ofpre-1948Mandatory Palestine. Completely rejecting the political process, the organization professes that its goals can only be achieved through military means.[25][26]
PIJ began its armed operations against Israel in 1984. In 1988, its leaders were exiled by Israel toLebanon. While in Lebanon, the group received training, support and other backing fromHezbollah andits backers in Iran, and developed a close relationship with the organization. In 1990, the headquarters of PIJ moved to theSyrian capital,Damascus, where it continues to be based,[27] with offices inBeirut,Tehran, andKhartoum.
PIJ masterminded severalsuicide attacks in Israel,[28] and is considered by Israel the most extreme organization in its operational methods and commitment to the destruction of Israel.[29] By 1995 PIJ was, according to Robert Fisk, "perhaps the fiercest of all Israel's modern-day enemies."[30] There was a subsequent crackdown on the PIJ by Israel and thePalestinian National Authority which led to a significant weakening of the organization.[31]
On 20 February 2003,University of South Floridacomputer engineering professorSami Al-Arian was arrested after being indicted on a terrorism-related charge.U.S. Attorney GeneralJohn Ashcroft alleged at apress conference that Al-Arian was theNorth American head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. On 6 December 2006, Sami Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison, pursuant to aplea bargain.[32] In November 2006 he was found guilty of civil contempt for refusing to testify before a federalgrand jury and served 21 months in prison on that conviction. On 27 June 2014, the US Federal Government dropped all charges against Al-Arian.[33]
PIJ have allegedly used minors for its operations. On 29 March 2004, 15-year-old Tamer Khuweir ofRifidia, a suburb of Palestinian cityNablus in the West Bank, was captured by Israeli forces as he planned to carry out a suicide mission. His older brother claimed he was brainwashed and demanded the Palestinian Authority investigate the incident and arrest those responsible for it.[34]
In February 2012, theHamas government in the Gaza Strip distanced itself from PIJ. During theMarch 2012 Gaza–Israel clashes, which followed the Israeli assassination ofPopular Resistance Committees leader,Zuhir al-Qaisi, who bragged of kidnappingGilad Shalit, PIJ and PRC opened attacks on Israel. Hamas refrained from joining PIJ and PRC in attacking Israel.[36] Over a hundred Palestinians were killed or injured in the ensuing violence, but no Hamas targets were killed.[37] The subsequent ceasefire was negotiated between Israel and the militant groups, not Hamas.
In May 2015, London-based Arabic newspaperAsharq al-Awsat reported that Iran had stopped funding PIJ due to the group's neutrality over theSaudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, throwing PIJ into a severe financial crisis. Iran had expected PIJ to condemn the intervention led by Saudi Arabia, Iran's chief regional rival. Palestinian newspaperal-Quds reported that Iran is now supporting an offshoot of PIJ calledas-Sabirin (Arabic for "the patient ones"), headed by Islamic Jihad veteran Hisham Salem.[38]
Under the former leadership of Ramadan Shalah, the group would receive approximately US$70 million per year from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.[39]
Ramadan Shalah was interviewed by Scott Atran and Robert Axelrod inDamascus, Syria, on 15 December 2009. In the interview, he said that hope for a two-state solution was gone and that there was little international support for aone-state solution in which "Palestinians have rights in all of historic Palestine". Thus he advocated for armed struggle until Israel's defeat.[40]
We are the indigenous people of the land. I was born in Gaza. My family, brothers and sisters, live in Gaza. But I am not allowed to visit them. But any American or Siberian Jew is allowed to take our land. There is no possibility today of a two-state solution. That idea is dead. And there is no real prospect of a one-state solution...
I will never, under any conditions, accept the existence of the state of Israel. I have no problem living with the Jewish people...
We have lived together in peace for centuries. And if Netanyahu were to ask if we can live together in one state, I would say to him: "If we have exactly the same rights as Jews to come to all of Palestine. IfKhaled Meshaal and Ramadan Shalah can come whenever they want, and visit Haifa, and buy a home inHerzliyah if they want, then we can have a new language, and dialogue is possible."[40]
In 2009 interview with Al-Jazeera, PIJ leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah rejected the two-state solution, said "the one-state solution is better than the two-state solution" and accused thePalestinian Authority of being complicit with the Israeli occupation.[41]
In a 2002 book,Yonah Alexander wrote that PIJcalls for the destruction of Israel, rejects the option of a peaceful settlement with Israel, and advocates the use of guerrilla tactics to achieve that aim. Israel's eradication is viewed as an essential prerequisite for addressing the challenges facing the Muslim world. It envisions laying the groundwork for a future scenario in which a significant Islamic Arab army engages in military confrontation to achieve Israel's destruction. The PIJ has been accountable for some of the deadliestsuicide attacks in Israel.[42]
The group is a Sunni Jihadist movement but includes other religious beliefs.[43]
Training of al-Quds Brigadessnipers in Gaza, 25 December 2013Al-Quds Brigades weapons exhibition/parade, Gaza Strip, 7 January 2022
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad pledges that armed resistance will continue as long as Israelmaintains the occupation and conducts military operations against Palestinians.[44] Nonetheless, it states "the decision to end resistance belongs to that of the people". PIJ has employed suicide bombing as a tactic in realization that Palestinian military capabilities are outmatched by Israeli sophisticated weaponry.[44] It's objectives are to "maximum[ize] amount of loss to the Israeli military".[44] PIJ states that their policy is that targeting innocent civilians is prohibited.[44] However, it allows for targeting Israeli civilians in response to Israeli targeting of Palestinian civilians. Nevertheless, PIJ states that in such scenarios they prioritize targeting the Israeli military over targeting civilians. Finally, PIJ states they reject any use of force against non-Israelis.[44] PIJ has alsodeployed its own rocket, similar to the Qassam rocket used by Hamas, called theal-Quds rocket.
List of attacks
August 1987: The PIJ claimed responsibility for a shooting that killed the commander of the Israeli military police in theGaza Strip.[6]
July 1989: Attack of Egged bus 405 along theJerusalem–Tel Aviv highway, at least 14 people killed (including two Canadians and one American) and dozens more wounded. Though intended to be a suicide attack, the perpetrator survived.[45]
4 February 1990: A bus carrying Israeli tourists in Egypt was attacked. The attack left 11 people, including 9 Israelis, dead and 17 others injured.[46]
February 1992: In theNight of the Pitchforks, PIJ members killed three Israeli soldiers asleep in their base, using knives, axes and a pitchfork.[47]
6 April 1992: AnIsraeli Army convoy was ambushed inHula, South Lebanon. Two soldiers were killed and 5 wounded. The target had been Major-GeneralYitzhak Mordechai, head of Israel'sNorthern Command, who had left the convoy earlier. Three of the attackers were killed.[48]
December 1993: David Mashrati, an Israeli reserve soldier, was shot and killed by a terrorist at theHolon Junction. The PIJ claimed responsibility for the attack.[49]
April 1994: A PIJ member attacked a group of Israelis waiting for a bus at the city of Ashdod, killing 1 and injuring others.[50]
January 1995: Bomb attack nearNetanya killing eighteen soldiers and one civilian.[26]
April 1995: Bomb Attack inNetzarim andKfar Darom. The first bomb killed 8 people including American student,Alisa Flatow, and injured over 30 on an Israel bus; thesecond attack was a car bomb that injured 12 people.[51]
March 1996: A Tel Aviv shopping mall is the site of another bombing killing 20 and injuring 75.[52]
November 2000: A car bomb in Jerusalem at an outdoor market killed 2 people and injured 10.[53]
March 2002: A bomb killed seven people and injured approximately thirty aboard a bus travelling from Tel Aviv to Nazareth.[53]
June 2002: Eighteen people are killed and fifty injured in an attack at theMegiddo Junction.[26]
November 2002: 12 soldiers and security personnel killed in anambush in Hebron.[54]After theAfula mall bombing, PIJ stated that thesuicide bomber was a 19-year-old Palestinian female student named Hiba Daraghmeh
May 2003: Three people killed and eighty-three injured in a suicide bombing at ashopping mall inAfula.[55]
August 2003: A bomber killed 21 people and injured more than 100 people on a bus in Jerusalem.[53]
October 2003: PIJ affiliated suicide bomberHanadi Jaradat detonated anexplosive belt inside a restaurant inHaifa, killing 21 Israelis and wounding 60 others.
October 2005: Palestiniansuicide bomber detonated an explosive device in aHadera market, killing seven people and injuring 55, five of them severely.[56][57]
January 2007: Both theal-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and the PIJ claim responsibility for a suicide bombing at anEilat bakery that killed three.[26]
June 2007: In a failed assault on an IDF position at theKissufim crossing between Gaza and Israel in a possible attempt to kidnap IDF soldiers, four armed members of theal-Quds Brigades (the military wing of Islamic Jihad) and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (the military wing ofFatah) allegedly used a vehicle marked with "TV" and "PRESS" insignias penetrated the border fence and assaulted a guard tower in what Islamic Jihad and the army said was a failed attempt to capture an Israeli soldier.[59] IDF troops killed one militant, while the others escaped. The use of a vehicle that resembled a press vehicle evoked a sharp response from many journalists and news organizations. The Middle East director forHuman Rights Watch Sarah Leah Whitsonn responded, "Using a vehicle with press markings to carry out a military attack is a serious violation of the laws of war, and it also puts journalists at risk."[60] The FPA responded by saying,
Armored vehicles marked with TV are an invaluable protection for genuine journalists working in hostile environments. The FPA has long campaigned for the continued availability of armored vehicles for its members, despite official opposition in some quarters. The abuse of this recognized protection for the working journalist is a grave development and we condemn those that carried it out. Such an incident will reduce the protection offered by marked vehicles.[59]
During a press conference, an Islamic Jihad spokesperson Abu Ahmed denied that they had put press markings on the jeep used in the attack and said, "The Al-Quds Brigades used an armoured jeep resembling military armoured jeeps used by the Zionist intelligence services."[61]
On 26 March 2009, two Islamic Jihad members were imprisoned for aconspiracy "to murder Israeli pilots and scientists using booby-trapped toy cars".[62]
On 15 November 2012, Islamic Jihad fired two Fajr-5s at Tel Aviv from Gaza, one landing in an uninhabited area of the suburbs and the other in the sea.[63]
On 24 June 2013, six rockets were fired into Israel; major news outlets reported that the Islamic Jihad were behind the attacks.[64][65][66][67]
In March 2014 over 100 rockets were launched into southern Israel by PIJ and other Islamist groups. On 14 March Shalah announced that the attack was coordinated withHamas.[68]
Islamic Jihad also control dozens of religious organizations in thePalestinian territories that are registered as NGOs and operatemosques, schools, and medical facilities that offer free services.[69] Like other Islamic associations, these are heavily scrutinized by thePalestinian National Authority who have shut some of them down.[69] In one Islamic Jihad kindergarten graduation, children dressed up in military uniforms, waved guns, shouted anti-Israel slogans, and spoke of blowing themselves up to kill "Zionists".[70][71]
Islamic Jihad also operates dozens of summer camps for children. They have opened up 51 summer camps which attracted approximately 10,000 children in 2010.
We teach the children the truth. How the Jews persecuted the prophets and tortured them. We stress that the Jews killed and slaughtered Arabs and Palestinians every chance they got. Most important, the children understand that the conflict with the Jews is not over land, but rather over religion. As long as Jews remain here, between the [Jordan] river and the sea, they will be our enemy and we will continue to pursue and kill them. When they leave we won't hurt them.[72]
Tarek Ezzedine : PIJ commander in Judea and Samaria, killed on 9 May 2023 during Operation Shield and Arrow
Abu Hamza (spokesperson) : Saraya Al Quds spokesman, killed together with his wife on 17 March 2025.
Muhammad Abu Sakhil: Head of milltary operation in Gaza Strip replacing Iyad Al Husni who was killed on May 2023, killed with his son on 11 November 2024.
^Taylor & Francis, Ltd., "The Damascus-Based Alliance of Palestinian Forces: A Primer"Journal of Palestine Studies (Spring 2000), pp. 60–76 (JSTOR ref.)
^Ahronheim, Anna and JP Staff. (3 November 2019). "Who is Abu Al-Ata: the man behind rocket fire from Gaza Strip?".Jerusalem Post websiteArchived 12 November 2019 at theWayback Machine Retrieved 12 November 2019.
^abcdeEngeland, Anisseh van; Rudolph, Rachael M. (2008).From terrorism to politics. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. pp. 106–107.ISBN9780754649908.
Hatina, Meir (2001).Islam and Salvation in Palestine: The Islamic Jihad Movement. Syracuse University Press.ISBN9652240486.
Fletcher, Holly (10 April 2008)."Palestinian Islamic Jihad". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived fromthe original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved22 August 2012.
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