(Jerusalem Post) - Matthew Gutman Despite 240 arrests of Islamic Jihad members and the targeted killing of more than a dozen, the terrorist group regenerates hydra-like. The group numbers only about 100 hard-core fighters scattered about the West Bank. Islamic Jihad was founded in 1981 by ultra-radical Egyptian members of the Muslim Brotherhood, strongly influenced by the Iranian revolution, who had split from a Gaza branch of the group. According to a senior security source, the group is highly centralized, receiving many of its orders directly from its leader Ramadan Shalah in Damascus. Islamic Jihad is candid about its mission to destroy the Jewish state: In 1990, one of the organization's leaders, Sheikh Assad Tamimi, expressed the group's principle thus: "The Jews have to return to the countries from which they came. We shall not accede to a Jewish state on our land, even if it is only one village." According to the security source, while Israel is adamant that the PA could easily disarm the terror groups, the probability of such action is "minimal. Who knows how many days of this hudna we have left?" Iran is the main patron of and terror contractor to Islamic Jihad. Documents found in Palestinian security installations show that Iran is pumping cash into all of the Palestinian terror organizations, and especially Islamic Jihad.
2003-07-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive