Palestinian Islamic Jihad - Research Paper Example

PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD First 16-04 No.JS133S11 PART PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD PROFILE Palestinian Islamic Jihad. COUNTRY: It was formed in Egypt, In 1987, the PIJ was exiled to Lebanon and kept their operations running in Gaza. In Collaboration with the Lebanese organization the group became well trained by Hezbollah during the stay in Lebanon. Hence, in 1989 PIJ shifted to Damascus and staying there to date (Oritz, 2010). YEAR FORMED: This organization was formed in late 1970s (Oritz, 2010). LEADERSHIP: Fathi Shaqaqi and Abdul Aziz Awda developed PIJ, later on was led by Ramadan Abdallah Shallah (White, 2011) POLITICAL ORIENTATION: It is an Islamic extremists group(Oritz, 2010). RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION: The group includes Muslims (Oritz, 2010). POLITICAL GOALS: The Palestinian Islamic Jihad wants to restore an independent, Islamic Palestinian state with the geographic restrictions of the pre-1948 consent in Palestine. PIJ members believe that war is the only solution to get rid of Israel from Middle East and refuse every two-state suggestion where Israel and Palestine exist simultaneously (Oritz, 2010) REASON US GOVERNMENT LISTED: The PIJ believes United States of America as their immense enemy because United States inevitably supports Israel and provides every possible aid to Israeli armed forced from weapons to soldiers, and therefore became one FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists group on February 24, 2006 (Oritz, 2010). PRINCIPAL ATTACKS: August 1987: The PIJ announced that a commander of Israeli military police has been shot dead in Gaza strip by them. On March 1996, inside a shopping mall in Tel-Aviv there was a blast that killed twenty people and injured seventy five (Martin, 2010). On July 1989, near the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway, Attack of Egged bus 405, minimum 14 people died along with one American and two Canadians, leaving numerous injured. It was an intentional suicidal attempt but the invader stayed alive (Martin, 2010). On April 1995: a suicide bomb killed eight people in Netzarim and Kfar-Darom and over thirty injured in the first attack, and the second one was in car that wounded twelve (Martin, 2010). On March 1996: inside a shopping mall in Tel-Aviv there was a bomb blast that killed twenty people and injured seventy five (White, 2011). On March 2002: seven people were killed in a bus from Tel Aviv to Nazareth, injured about thirty people in a suicidal attack. On July 2002: a suicidal attack followed by another one killed five people in Tel Aviv and injured forty (White, 2011) On May 2003, there was an attack in a mall in Afula by suicidal bomber that killed three and left eighty –three injured. In August 2003: twenty-one people were killed by a suicidal attack in a bus inside Jerusalem that injured more than hundred people (White, 2011). On January 2007,Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PIJ together take accountability for the suicidal attack at Eliat bakery that killed three (Aouragh, 2011). On June9, 2007, the Al-Qud Brigades which is the military wing of Islamic Jihad, and along with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades attempted to kidnap the IDF military men but their action was in vain (Aouragh, 2011). MODUS OPERANDI: They do brain washing usually teenagers and give them training for suicidal bombing mostly. IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT: The officials however want to protect the country from any kind of terrorism activity (Aouragh, 2011). IMPACT ON POPULATIONS: The innocents have been assassinated in their war (Aouragh, 2011). FINANCIAL SUPPORT: The financial support is thought to arrive from Syria and Iran according to US (White, 2011). STATE SPONSORSHIP: PIJ has offices in Beirut, Tehran, Iran, Syria and Khartoum (White, 2011). RECRUITMENT: Islamic Jihad assumed to have teenagers been used for suicidal bombing attacks (White, 2011). TRAINING: Most of the training is carried out in Iran including suicidal bombings. (White, 2011) PART2 : ANALYSIS OF THREAT 1. GOVERNMENT RESPONSES: On october2 2000, the US secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a public statement that she will be meeting Yasir Arafat and Barak in order to end all the hostilities with the terrorist group in Paris. This meeting included the French President Jacques Chirac and UN Secretary General Kofi Anna, after which Arafat and Barak asked their military men and police commanders to pull back all forces and cease the violence but both could not agree to the means to inquire about the reason of the clash. Arafat wanted international support particularly of UN to investigate Israeli actions whereas Barak wanted to have US investigation against the conflict (Pape, 2010). 2. RESULTS OF GOVENMANTAL RESPONSES: President Clinton met the chairman Arafat and the Prime Minister Barak in the White House but their meetings remained unfruitful in giving rise to peace and harmony, which were criticized by the Israeli and Palestinian press as secret meetings far from the public inspection. Rumors also start to float that Palestinian and Israeli negotiators have met at Bolling Airforce Base outside Washington to make development for cease-fire (Pape, 2010). Arafat met again with President Clinton who proposed for the peace issue on January 2, 2001. The outcome however was that, hypothetically there was a possibility of peace accord and truce but practically it was improbable to happen. 3. TRENDS: The attacks done by PIJ from the year 1987 till 2007 statistics show that there is a significant increase in the number of attempts conducted by this group. However, the attacks from mere shooting to car bombing and ultimately involved suicidal bomb are a symbol of the determination of this faction. The PIJ often carries out suicide bombings that target civilians and military employees, though the rate of attacks inside Israeli region has decreased since the creation of security barriers around Gaza. None of immediate attacks have been done on US territory and their citizens (Martin, 2010). It threatened to attack on U.S. embassy if it was relocated to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. Recently they said they will avoid attacking Israel if in turn Israel stops its brutality over Gaza strip. It is also evident that PIJ is involved in money laundering so engage themselves via those illegal funds and progress their union and their terrorism activities. They are recently engaged in earning these funds by means of some international commercial companies that provide either money or certain goods which are directly delivered to either PIJ headquarters or the relevant offices where the group is been operated (Moghadam, 2011). This may include a sum of ten to hundreds and thousands of dollars. 4. ANALYSIS OF THREAT LEVEL: In order to be successful in the terrorism activity they need to get certain information to plan and carry out the attacks. They do have an To succeed, terrorist operations require detailed information for planning and execute an attack. Many of these organizations have contacts with intelligence agencies working in sponsor countries. OPSEC (operations security) may assist in managing the most suitable security program against terrorist attacks (White, 2011). The group had an aim to make use of violent jihad; holding weapons in hand and made the Palestine a state of terror. Simultaneously the PIJ want to remove Jews to live in harmony in a state devoid of Israelis. This goal led to the creation of an Islamic Palestine and hence to a pan-Islamic empire alike that of seventh century’s Omayyad Empire. Here the ideology by Ayatollah Khomeini may work as he tried to avoid Shia-Sunni conflicts where it showed Shiaism is the fifth school of Islamic law (Oritz, 2010). The Ayatollah’s opinion of Judaism and Jews predominantly appealed to PIJ founders. Together with the ways of Khomeini they are obeying the principles of brotherhood. And this brotherhood believes that the destruction of Israel will be the first step in the restoration of the caliphate. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS: In order to maintain a world peace and to fight against terrorism, all Muslim states must be united together and stand for peace and harmony rather than killing innocent people in public attacks including their own religion that is Islam, as when there is an attack no one knows that it will be on jews only as there might be few Muslim been victimized as well in that brutal activity. The United States of America along with Israel high officials must think optimistically along with Palestinian officials that there is no point in harming and killing innocents, as clearly seen during the brutal attacks at Gaza strip that left number of children and women killed aimlessly. Similarly, the terrorist groups must not think that war is the only solution to the religious differences. However, independence is the utmost right of all citizens of a country but the means to avail this satisfying souvenir should be lawful and devoid of cruelty and wrong measures. On the other hand the ban of US products along with European commodities was a strong step by Arab and other Muslim countries leaving the western world in a great loss in their economy. This showed a Muslim brotherhood could be united in a peaceful coalition without indulging themselves into terrorist related activities. The attack on the twin towers however leave all of us still grief-stricken, as even the Muslims did not encouraged such an unkind act which was utterly against humanity killing a number of Muslims as well. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aouragh, M. (2011). Palestine Online: Transnationalism, Communications and the Reinvention of Identity. I.B.Tauris. Martin, G. (2010). Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Controversies. SAGE. Moghadam, A. (2011). The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of Suicide Attacks. JHU Press. Oritz, C. (2010)> Private armed forces and global security: a guide to the issues. ABC-CLIO. Pape, R. A. & Feldman, J.K. (2010). Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It. University of Chicago Press. White, J. R. (2011). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Cengage Learning. Read More