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Palestinian Islamic
Jihad (PIJ)
Organization and Leadership
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Late Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki.
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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a
militant Palestinian group dedicated to the destruction of the state
of Israel. The PIJ consists of a number of loosely affiliated cells
with an unknown number of members. The group concentrates entirely
on armed revolt, steering clear of the social or educational programs
that characterize other Palestinian resistance groups such as HAMAS
or Hezbollah.
The most prominent of the factions operating under the PIJ banner
is the Fathi Shikaki faction founded by three Palestinians: Fathi
Shikaki, Abdul Aziz Odeh and Bashir Moussa. Shikaki was the original
leader of the group until 1995, when Israeli agents killed him in
Malta. The current leader, Dr. Ramadan Abdullah al-Shallah, who had
been teaching at the University of South Florida, succeeded him. The
group operates mainly out of Lebanon and has offices in Beirut, Damascus,
Tehran and Khartoum.
Lesser PIJ factions include the The Islamic Jihad Organization - the
al-Aqsa Battalions, a Jordan-based group founded by Sheikh Asaad Bayyud
al-Tamimi. There is also the Islamic Jihad - The Temple founded by
Bassem Sultan, Marwan al-Kayali and Muhammad Bkheis (all killed in
1988 in Cyprus by a car bomb). This pro-Iranian faction was active
in the early day of the Intifada of the late 80s, but is now largely
inactive. Another group, The Islamic Jihad Squad, has carried out
attacks against Israeli targets in Egypt and Sudan.
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What's Next:
Ideology
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