Islam and salvation in Palestine: the Islamic Jihad movement

Abstract

PALESTINE AND PALESTINIANS Islam and Salvation in Palestine: The Islamic Jihad Movement, by Meir Hating. The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies: Tel Aviv, 2001. 138 pages. Notes to p.168. Bibl. to p. 174. Index to p. 180. $14.95. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad was established in Gaza in 1981 and while generally eclipsed by its larger partner in the Islamicised Palestinian opposition to Israel, Hamas, throughout the 1980s and 1990s it played an important role in setting the agenda of resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the Oslo Accords (1993). Its emphasis on the jihad rather than da`wa end of the spectrum of religious activity ensured that it would attract a high political profile and become the focus of intense efforts of both cooptation and coercion by the Palestinian Authority and suppression by the Israeli government. This close study by Hatina draws a useful and intelligent portrait of the operational evolution and political discourse of Islamic Jihad and partially explains why its influence far exceeds the relative small membership. The introduction and first chapter set the context for the creation of Islamic Jihad. Tracing its growth from the student-based activities in Gaza and Cairo to a regional organization with wide connections in the Arab and Islamic world, the structure and organization are described in some detail. Chapter 2 looks at ideological developments within Islamic Jihad and discusses how, despite being more radical in its military operations than its rivals, it tried to position itself ideologically between the exclusivity of Hamas and the secularism of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Chapters 3 and 4 discuss Islamic Jihad's relations with Hamas and with the PLO especially regarding the Oslo Accords - a subject that is accessible to non-specialists. While still pursuing an ideologically principled and militant agenda, the pragmatism of Islamic Jihad allowed it to keep open channels of communication with the leadership of both camps. This was despite being accused of opportunism by the former and being subject to attempts at suppression by the latter. The next two chapters are very brief, which is regrettable, as they discuss issues of great interest. Chapter 5 looks at Islamic Jihad's relations with Iran and Hizbollah. Here, Hatina has many useful insights. He describes how its chief ideologue and founder, Fathi al-Shiqaqi, tried to embrace the Iranian revolution's pan-Islamic vision but had to distance Islamic Jihad from the anti-Sunni sentiments expressed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Chapter 6, which focuses on images and symbols (i.e., on the discourse and publicity of Islamic Jihad), is too brief to do the subject justice and while comprising some interesting observations, the material and the examples do not add up to a convincing analysis. …