Palestinian Islamic Jihad - by Erik Skare (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Founded in 1981, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is one of the most important yet least understood Palestinian armed factions, both in terms of its history and ideology. Yet no in-depth translation of its ideological corpus exists. This book is the first to provide a comprehensive account of the ideology of PIJ in the movement's own words. Based on the author's extensive fieldwork and archival research in the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon, the book comprises the PIJ's written texts produced since 1979, translated here into English for the first time.

In addition to the primary texts, the book includes expert commentary from the author for each source to help explain the context and the broader significance of the documents. The key contention of the book is that although PIJ employs Islamic signifiers and symbolism, its ideology is strikingly similar to the anti-colonialism of the PLO in the 1960s, and in stark contrast to Hamas. A comprehensive resource on the PIJ, it covers:

- PIJ beliefs about the Palestinian problem
- what type of Islamism the PIJ espouses
- how the PIJ regards Shiites and Iran
- how it can be understood as an Islamist organization
- what it envisions for Palestinian society in the future

This is the only sourcebook available on the PIJ.

Review Quotes

"Skare provides valuable primary texts from which one can learn much about PIJ's origins and outlook." --Middle East Quarterly

"Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Islamist Writings on Resistance and Religion is the first academic resource to provide a comprehensive accounting of the ideology of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad ... an invaluable contribution to college library collections, highly recommended." --Midwest Book Review

"Skare's book is useful to readers from many disciplines. It serves as a great example of the way terrorist groups interpret political processes, how they interpret history and how they judge history through the lens of religion and messianic processes. For readers interested in the self-justification of violence and the rationalization behind targeting civilians, this book provides a firsthand glimpse into that psychological process." --Edge Blog by American Military University

About the Author

Erik Skare is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for International Studies, Sciences Po, Paris, France. He is the author of Digital Jihad: Palestinian Resistance in the Digital Era (Zed Books, 2016) and he specializes in the study of violent and non-violent Palestinian resistance. Skare has conducted extensive fieldwork in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories since 2014.