[Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Introduction]

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a small, radical Islamist terrorist organization active in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The PIJ views terrorist attacks against Israel as the only means for achieving its goals, namely the elimination of the State of Israel and the subsequent establishment of a religious Islamic Palestinian state in "Filisteen." Both the United States and the European Union have designated the PIJ as a terrorist organization.

[Ideology]

The PIJ was formed in the 1970's by a small group of Palestinian students studying at Zagazig University (an infamous stronghold of Islamic fundamentalism) in northern Egypt. The group was headed by Fat'hi Abd al-Aziz al-Shkaki (Dr. Fat’hi Shkaki), a medical student. Dr. Ramadan Shalah (PIJ's current leader) was also one of the organization's founders.

The founders were active within Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, but grew ideologically estranged over a perceived lack of action. A collective feeling of disillusionment led the group to create a Palestinian Islamic organization that combined Islamic activism with uncompromising nationalism. The PIJ was envisioned as an alternative, or counter-weight to the secular nationalism of Fatah, the primary faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

Indeed, the PIJ seeks the immediate "liberation" of all Palestine via an armed Jihad directed against "Jewish existence in Palestine," leading to the extinction of "the Zionist entity." Jihad, as defined by the PIJ, is to be realized without delay and not postponed until after the establishment of a religious "Islamic state."

PIJ views armed struggle as the first and necessary step in the process of rehabilitating the Islamic nation (umma) by a return to original, unblemished religious Islamic values. The PIJ has also expressed its enthusiastic support for the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution in Iran, a stance that led to a schism with the Muslim Brotherhood, which viewed the revolution as a "deviation from the true path."


Islamic Jihad operatives praying in Gaza

[Military Capabilities]

The PIJ maintains an extensive operational infrastructure in large PA cities, particularly in Samaria (northern West Bank). A number of PIJ suicide bombing attacks were carried out by operatives that deployed from the Jenin sector (northern Israel, Wadi Ara). Since September 2000, PIJ's Jerusalem Battalions have perpetrated over 1,000 attacks, killing at least 150 Israelis and wounding 950. The terrorist organization has also developed various missiles, including the Quds and Saria 2.

Quds-2

The Quds-2 can achieve a range of up to 12 kilometers (7.45 miles). In February 2006, PIJ claimed it had developed a lethal long-range rocket capable of striking central Ashkelon. According to PIJ sources, the rocket has a range of 13-16 kilometers (approximately 8-10 miles) and a payload that includes TNT. Spokesman Abu Hamza noted that PIJ was finally able to produce the new Quds rocket -- an improved version of the Quds 101 rocket. According to Hamza, the new Quds rocket is 2.3 meters long (approximately 7 feet) and has been successfully tested.


Quds 101 Rocket

In April 2006, media reports indicated that Palestinian terrorists were manufacturing the Quds-3 along with a multiple-rocket launcher system. The Quds-3, developed in the Gaza Strip with the aid of PA funding and Iranian operatives, is based on the Russian Grad and BM21 Katyusha. The Quds-3 was test-fired against Ashkelon on March 28 and weighs 66 kilos. The rocket carries an explosive payload of 17 kilograms.

The 122mm launcher fires 10 rockets simultaneously to a distance of 18-30 kilometers. The system, capable of firing 40 rockets within 20 seconds, weighs 13 tons and enables Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to strike Ashkelon, Ashdod, Netivot and Ofakim. The rockets are launched by a crew that pulls back approximately 60 meters from the launcher and releases the rockets by pulling a wire.

In May 2006, Islamic Jihad operatives fired a Grad-class Katyusha rocket at the western Negev community of Netiv Ha'asara. According to Middle East Newsline, Islamic Jihad has test-fired at least three indigenous versions of the Russian-origin BM-21 Grad rocket (from the northern Gaza Strip) for range and accuracy. "We believe Islamic Jihad, probably with [help from] Hamas, has been developing and producing prototypes of the Grad...We know they have the expertise and the equipment to produce the rocket."


Quds 3 Rocket

In July 2006, Hamas deployed an indigenous variant of the Soviet-origin Katyusha rocket (BM-21 Grad) with a range of 24 kilometers. The new 122mm Grad was fired (on July 18) at Kibbutz Sdot Bror Hayil - approximately 19 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. The rocket traveled 24 kilometers, exceeding the 20 kilometer range of a standard 122mm Katyusha.

In November 2006, Abu Hamza announced that the indigenously developed Quds-4 would soon be operational. The Quds-4 is based on the Russian-made Katyusha and has a range of 18-20 kilometers. In January 2007, Ha'aretz reported that Islamic Jihad was attempting to mass-manufacture a twin-engine rocket with a 15-16 kilometer range. In February, Maan News Agency revealed that the PIJ had successfully manufactured a 220mm Quds-4 rocket -- capable of achieving a 22 kilometer range.

Saria-2

The Saria-2 rocket was declared operational on April 15, 2004. The Saria-2, designed to be fired in sets of 12, can achieve a range of 3 kilometers (1.8 miles), and scatters shrapnel over a radius of 13 meters. In November 2004, Islamic Jihad officials announced an improved rocket with an 18 kilometer (11 mile) range.

[Leadership Hierarchy]

Ramadan Abdallah Muhammad Shalah was born in 1958 in the Saja’iyyah neighborhood of the Gaza Strip. Shalah joined the Moslem Brotherhood in high school, which later funded his tuition at Zagazig University in Egypt. While at Zagazig, Shalah, Fat’hi Shkak and other Palestinian students founded the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Salah returned to the Gaza Strip in 1981 and was hired to lecture in the Economics Department of Gaza’s Islamic University. In 1985, Salah was awarded a PhD in economics from Durham University (England). He then moved to the United States and lectured in international relations at Tampa University in Florida. Salah was chosen as the PIJ’s secretary general in 1995 after Dr. Shkaki died in Malta.

[Syria & Lebanon: PIJ Sponsors]

The PIJ Damascus headquarters, sponsored by Syria and Lebanon, directs terrorist operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip via the following methods:

  • Coordination
  • Operational proposals
  • Ordering an increase or reduction of suicide bombings

The PIJ terrorist infrastructure in Syria includes headquarters, offices, military equipment, supplies and training camps, such as Jabril's Palestinian Front's base at Ein Sahib, which was targeted by the Israeli Air Force on October 5, 2003. The PIJ has also run operational infrastructure in Lebanon since Dr. Fat’hi Shkaki was expelled from Israeli territory.

It should be noted that the operatives who carried out the fatal 2002 terrorist attack in Kibbutz Matzuba were PIJ members (working for Hizballah) that infiltrated the Israeli-Lebanese border.

[Collaboration with Iran]

The PIJ receives extensive financial aid from Iran. Captured PA documents and testimony of captured terrorists illustrate that the PIJ receives support from Iran -- which also funds Hamas and Hizballah. PIJ's annual budget has been estimated at several million dollars, a large percentage of which is earmarked for funding terrorist attacks against Israel and maintaining its terrorist apparatus: offices, salaries, weapons and explosives, as well as financial aid to the families of casualties and detainees.

However, only a minor amount of the organization’s budget is allotted to funding its civilian infrastructure, which includes a number of societies in the West Bank (al-Ihsan, al-Naqa’ for women and the Islamic youth club in Bethlehem) and in the Gaza Strip (seven branches of al-Ihsan). The societies offer programs in the following areas: health, welfare and religious Islamic education. 1
[References]

  1. "Profile of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Perpetrator of a Suicide Bombing Attack in Tel Aviv, February 25, 2005," Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S), February 28, 2005; "2003 Middle East Military Balance: Glossary of Weapon Systems (Ground Forces Equipment), Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies, 2003; Ali Waked, "Jihad: Our New Rocket More Lethal," YnetNews, February 11, 2006; "DEBKAfile Exclusive: Palestinians Are Manufacturing New Multiple-Rocket Launchers With Palestinian Authority Funding," DebkaFile, March 31, 2006; Ali Waked, "Al-Aqsa: Rockets on Tel Aviv in 48 Hours," YnetNews, April 23, 2006; Itzik Saban, "Improved Qassams, 'Flying Suicide Bombers'," YnetNews, July 10, 2006; "Jihad Prepares Rockets for Mass Production," Middle East Newsline, May 17, 2006; ""Hamas Develops 24 KM Range Katyusha," MENL, July 23, 2006; Nir Hasson, "Female Suicide Bomber Lightly Wounds Two Soldiers in Northern Gaza," Ha'aretz, November 23, 2006; "Islamic Jihad Developing Quds-4 Rocket," IsraelNationalNews, December 23, 2006; Amos Harel, "IDF: New Qassams Could Reach North of Ashkelon," Ha'aretz, January 10, 2007; Gal Berger, "[Islamic] Jihad Developed New Rocket - With 12 Launching Cannons," NFC, April 15, 2004; "Islamic Jihad Boasts New Rocket," IsraelNationalNews, November 3, 2004; "Islamic Jihad: New Rocket Has 22 KM Range," IsraelNationalNews, February 11, 2007.



Additional Information and Contact Details