Erik Skare

6. Prelude

  1. Benedetta Berti, 'Non-state Actors as Providers of Governance: The Hamas Government in Gaza between Effective Sovereignty, Centralized Authority, and Resistance', Middle East Journal 69, no. 1 (2015): 16.
  2. Yezid Sayigh, 'We Serve the People': Hamas Policing in Gaza (Washington, DC: Brandeis University, Crown Center for Middle East Studies, 2011), 50.
  3. Ibid., 54–6.
  4. Dag Tuastad, 'Hamas and the Clans: From Islamisation of Tribalism to Tribalization of Islamism?', Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal 6, nos 1–3 (May 2021): 93–4.
  5. International Crisis Group, Inside Gaza: The Challenge of Clans and Families (International Crisis Group, 2007), 9.
  6. Glenn E. Robinson, 'Palestinian Tribes, Clans, and Notable Families', Strategic Insights 7, no. 4 (2009); Erik Skare, A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Faith, Awareness, and Revolution in the Middle East (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021).
  7. Robinson, 'Palestinian Tribes, Clans, and Notable Families'.
  8. Tuastad, 'Hamas and the Clans', 100–1.
  9. The Qassam Brigades experienced 2.3 times higher casualty numbers from 2007 on. The kinship clusters expanded by a factor of 9.31 in the same period, indicating that factors beyond casualty numbers contributed to this growth.
  10. I do not suggest that membership variations can be reduced to kinship, as if a militant is bounded by a family's decisions. My point is instead that clusters presumably result from factors reinforcing kinship as a social network and recruitment structure.
  11. Frode Løvlie, 'The Institutional Trajectory of Hamas: From Radicalism to Pragmatism – and Back Again?' (PhD thesis, University of Bergen, 2015), 264.
  12. Fathi Sibah, 'Hukumat haniya tunashid fasa'il al-muqawama 'tajannub' qasf al-ma'abir al-hududiyya', al-Hayat, September 14, 2007.
  13. Tareq Baconi, Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018), 148, 151, 214.
  14. Quoted in International Crisis Group, Radical Islam in Gaza (International Crisis Group, March 29, 2011), 4.
  15. Sayigh, 'We Serve the People', 124.
  16. Daniel Byman, 'Curious Victory: Explaining Israel's Suppression of the Second Intifada', Terrorism and Political Violence 24, no. 5 (November 2012): 67.
  17. Baconi, Hamas Contained, 154–5, 195.
  18. Joas Wagemakers, 'Legitimizing Pragmatism: Hamas' Framing Efforts from Militancy to Moderation and Back?', Terrorism and Political Violence 22, no. 3 (June 2010): 371.
  19. Baconi, Hamas Contained, 227–8.
  20. For discussion on data gaps in the Palestinian Islamist martyr dataset, see the appendix. Table 6.1 calculates only the percentage of martyrs with known occupations to avoid deflating numbers. Although 1 to 2 per cent for PIJ occupations like construction worker and iron worker may appear insignificant, the subsequent occupations were almost exclusively blue-collar jobs, including mechanic, blacksmith, painter, and plumber.
  21. The analysis of PIJ in this chapter is based on and draws text from Skare, A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, chs 5 and 9.
  22. Quoted in Arnon Regular, 'Leading Hamas Preacher Warns of Clash with Islamic Jihad', Haaretz, December 15, 2004.
  23. Husam Badran, Katibat al-shimal: al-Sabiqun ila al-janna (n.p.: al-Maktab al-i'lami li-kata'ib al-shahid izz al-din al-Qassam, 2010), 56; quoted in Antonella Acinapura, 'A Framing-Sensitive Approach to Militant Groups' Tactics: The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine and the Radicalisation of Violence during the Second Intifada', Critical Studies on Terrorism 16, no. 1 (January 2023): 134.
  24. Jihan al-Husayni, 'Masadir qariba min 'al-jihad al-islami' tahmal ala qiyadat Hamas wa Fatah', al-Hayat, August 5, 2007.
  25. Berti, 'Non-state Actors as Providers of Governance', 17.
  26. '2 Killed in Clashes between Hamas and Islamic Jihad', Associated Press, August 2, 2007.
  27. Ezra HaLevi, 'Hamas Cracks Down on Fatah Media, Clashes with Islamic Jihad', Arutz Sheva, August 2, 2007.
  28. Muhammad al-Jamal and Fayiz Abu Aoun, 'al-Hudu' yukhayyim Mujaddidan ala Rafah ba'd sarayan ittifaq li-waqf al-iqtital bayn 'Hamas wa-l-jihad', al-Ayyam, October 23, 2007.
  29. Nasouh Nazzal, 'Palestine: Hamas and Jihad Trade Barbs as Clash Looms', Gulf News, June 23, 2013.
  30. Asmaa al-Ghoul, 'Hamas, Islamic Jihad Clash over Mosque', al-Monitor, August 21, 2013.
  31. Hani Ibrahim, 'Hamas' Growing Rivalry with Islamic Jihad', al-Akhbar, April 16, 2014.
  32. 'Hamas tawaqqaf unsurayn min 'al-jihad' ba'd itlaq qadha'if athna' tawaghul Isra'il', al-Hayat, November 15, 2013.
  33. Hazem Balousha, 'Hamas a Spectator in Latest Gaza-Israel Clash', al-Monitor, March 14, 2014.
  34. Asmaa al-Ghoul, 'Gaza Political Cartoonist Faces Censorship, Death Threats', al-Monitor, February 26, 2014.
  35. Quoted in Asmaa al-Ghoul, 'Islamic Jihad's Popularity Grows after Gaza War', al-Monitor, September 25, 2014.
  36. Rasha Abou Jalal, 'Islamic Jihad Gains Support in Gaza as Hamas Declines', al-Monitor, April 10, 2014; al-Ghoul, 'Islamic Jihad's Popularity Grows after Gaza War'.
  37. Abou Jalal, 'Islamic Jihad Gains Support in Gaza as Hamas Declines'.
  38. Quoted in Roni Shaked, 'And the Loser Is: Hamas', al-Monitor, March 21, 2012.
  39. Al-Ghoul, 'Islamic Jihad: "We Will Not Accept a State on the 1967 Borders"', al-Monitor, May 12, 2013, al-monitor.com.
  40. Asmaa al-Ghoul, 'Hamas Isolated as Iran Boosts Ties with Islamic Jihad, Fatah', al-Monitor, February 12, 2014.
  41. Shlomi Eldar, 'Hamas Trapped between Israel, Islamic Jihad', al-Monitor, March 14, 2014.
  42. As'ad Talhami, 'Awsat Isra'iliyya ta'tabir 'al-jihad' al-rabih al-akbar wa wazir yad'u ila dars furas al-tafawud ma' Hamas', al-Hayat, March 15, 2012.
  43. Al-Ghoul, 'Islamic Jihad's Popularity Grows after Gaza War'.
  44. Shaked, 'And the Loser Is'.
  45. Talhami, 'Awsat Isra'iliyya ta'tabir 'al-jihad'.
  46. 'Inqisam yankhur 'al-jihad al-islami', al-Akhbar, November 7, 2008.
  47. Baconi, Hamas Contained, 234.
  48. Al-Akhbar, 'Inqisam yankhur 'al-jihad al-islami'.
  49. Quoted in Balousha, 'Hamas a Spectator in Latest Gaza-Israel Clash'.
  50. Jørgen Jensehaugen, 'A Palestinian Window of Opportunity? The PLO, the US and the Iranian Hostage Crisis', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 48, no. 4 (August 2021): 601.
  51. Abbas William Samii, 'A Stable Structure on Shifting Sands: Assessing the Hizbullah-Iran-Syria Relationship', Middle East Journal 62, no. 1 (2008): 34–5.
  52. Shireen Hunter, 'Iran's Pragmatic Regional Policy', Journal of International Affairs 56, no. 2 (2003): 139; Gary Sick, 'Iran: The Adolescent Revolution', Journal of International Affairs 49, no. 1 (1995): 157.
  53. Ann M. Lesch, 'Israeli Deportation of Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 1967–1978', Journal of Palestine Studies (1979): 108.
  54. Skare, A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, 107.
  55. Quoted in Matthew Levitt, 'Sponsoring Terrorism: Syria and Islamic Jihad', Washington Institute, December 1, 2002, washingtoninstitute.org.
  56. Azzam Tamimi, Hamas: Unwritten Chapters (London: Hurst, 2009), 69.
  57. Elad Ben-Dror, '"We Were Getting Close to God, Not Deportees": The Expulsion to Marj al-Zuhur in 1992 as a Milestone in the Rise of Hamas', Middle East Journal 74, no. 3 (November 2020): 410–11; Beverley Milton-Edwards and Stephen Farrell, Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010), 224.
  58. Tamimi, Hamas, 163.
  59. Ghassan Charbel, 'Ziyara li-dhakirat al-amin al-amm li-harakat al-jihad al-islami fi Filastin 1. al-Jihad itlaqat awwal amaliyya istishhadiyya fi Filastin am 1993 wa-l-muqawama al-lubnaniyya iftahat al-amaliyyat al-istishhadiyya bi tafjir maqarr al-marinz fi 1983', al-Hayat, January 7, 2003.
  60. Leila Seurat, The Foreign Policy of Hamas: Ideology, Decision Making and Political Supremacy (London: I. B. Tauris, 2022), 30–1.
  61. Milton-Edwards and Farrell, Hamas, 225.
  62. Zaki Shihab, ''al-Jihad al-islami' al-Filastini fi ghayab qa'idihi: shallah 'ala nahj al-Shiqaqi al-siyasa . . . wa 'amaliyyat intihariyya', al-Hayat, November 6, 1995.
  63. Jamal Khashoqji, Faysal al-Shaboul, and Abd al-Latif Furati, ''Hamas' takhattat li-warithat al-munazzama. Mu'arada li-l-iqtital murfaqa bi-tahdhir li-l-shurta al-Filastiniyya ightiyal mas'ul fi 'fath' wa Ghazza takhsha al-rasasa al-ula', al-Hayat, September 27, 1993.
  64. Seurat, The Foreign Policy of Hamas, 89.
  65. Erik Skare, 'Iran, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad: A Marriage of Convenience', European Council of Foreign Relations, December 18, 2023, ecfr.eu.
  66. Ibid., 90–6.
  67. Byman, 'Curious Victory', 65–6.
  68. 'al-Jihad tanfi mughadarat mas'uli al-haraka bi-Dimashq', al-Resalah, July 21, 2012.
  69. 'Abna' an i'tiqal najl qiyadi fi 'al-jihad al-islami' bi-Suriya', CNN, June 17, 2012.
  70. 'Harakat al-jihad al-islami taghadar Suriya', al-Jazeera, August 3. 2012.
  71. Ibrahim Humeidi, 'Islamic Jihad Leader Discusses Iran, Reconciliation, Syria', al-Monitor, May 22, 2014.
  72. 'Interview with Ramadan Shallah (Part II)', Journal of Palestine Studies 44, no. 3 (2015): 39–48.
  73. Anwar Abu Taha, interview with Erik Skare, March 19, 2018.
  74. 'al-Quds: Shallah yughadir Teheran wa khilafat kabira awqafat da'm Iran li-l-haraka', Amadnews, May 20, 2015; Kareem Asakira, 'Madha yahduth dakhil harakat al-jihad al-islami?', Ma'n News, May 16, 2015.
  75. Fatima al-Smadi, 'Analysis: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Redefining Relations with Iran', al-Jazeera, September 20, 2015.
  76. Ali Wakid, 'Qiyadi fi al-jihad al-islami: 'al-Iraniyyun lam ya'udu yaqbalun mawaqif muhayida', al-Masdar, May 28, 2015.
  77. Anwar Abu Taha, interview with Erik Skare, March 19, 2018.
  78. Hazem Balousha, 'Islamic Jihad's Coffers Run Dry', al-Monitor, June 2, 2015.
  79. Wakid, 'Qiyadi fi al-jihad al-islami'.
  80. 'Tawasul al-azma al-maliyya li-l-jihad al-islami', al-Masdar, December 28, 2015.
  81. 'al-Quds: Shallah yughadir Teheran'; 'Azmat al-jihad al-islami al-maliyya tatasa'ud: Hal hasalat al-haraka ala tamwil min al-jaza'ir?', al-Watan Voice, December 28, 2015; Adham Manasra, 'Intakhabat "al-jihad al-islami": Tiba'ud ma' Iran?', al-Mudun, September 30, 2018.
  82. Maayan Groisman, 'Iran to Renew Financial Support for Islamic Jihad after Two-Year Hiatus', Jerusalem Post, May 25, 2016.
  83. 'Harakat al-jihad al-islami tu'akkid mawqifha al-thabit ila janib al-sha'b al-yamani didd al-'adw', al-Manar, June 1, 2016.
  84. Wakid, 'Qiyadi fi al-jihad al-islami'.
  85. Seurat, The Foreign Policy of Hamas, 132.
  86. Afshon Ostovar, 'Iran, Its Clients, and the Future of the Middle East: The Limits of Religion', International Affairs 94, no. 6 (2018): 1247–8.
  87. Leila Seurat, 'Hamas's Goal in Gaza', Foreign Affairs, December 11, 2023.
  88. Ibid.
  89. Ibid.
  90. Quoted in Avi Issacharoff, 'Rising New Hamas Leader Is All Too Familiar to Israel', Times of Israel, December 18, 2015.
  91. Ronen Bergman, 'Gilad Shalit and the Rising Price for an Israeli Life', New York Times, November 9, 2011.
  92. Ibid.
  93. Motasem A Dalloul, 'The New Leader of Hamas in Gaza Is Yahya al-Sinwar', Middle East Monitor, February 13, 2017.
  94. Ben Caspit, 'Why Some in Israel Are Wary of Hamas' New Gaza Boss', al-Monitor, February 15, 2017.
  95. Wael R. Ennab, Population and Demographic Developments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Until 1990 (Geneva: United Nations, 1994), 64; Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Palestine in Figures 2011 (Ramallah: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2012), 8.
  96. Yazan Ajamieh et al., West Bank and Gaza: Selected Issues (Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, 2023), 5–6.
  97. 'Food Insecurity in the oPt: 1.3 Million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Are Food Insecure', United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, December 14, 2018, ochaopt.org.
  98. United Nations, Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (Geneva: United Nations, 2009), 256–7.
  99. Issacharoff, 'Rising New Hamas Leader Is All Too Familiar to Israel'.
  100. Shlomi Eldar, 'Why Hamas Refused to Return IDF Remains', al-Monitor, July 5, 2016.
  101. Caspit, 'Why Some in Israel Are Wary of Hamas' New Gaza Boss'.
  102. Shlomi Eldar, 'How Hamas' New Gaza Leader Came to Power', al-Monitor, February 14, 2017.
  103. Peter Beaumont, 'Election of New Hamas Gaza Strip Leader Increases Fears of Confrontation', Guardian, February 13, 2017; Caspit, 'Why Some in Israel Are Wary of Hamas' New Gaza Boss'.
  104. Ben Hubbard, 'Key Hamas Plotters of Oct. 7 Elude Israel's Grip on Gaza', New York Times, December 21, 2023.
  105. Rory Jones and Abu Bakr Bashir, 'Hamas Puts Militant Yahya Sinwar in Charge of Gaza', Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2017; Beaumont, 'Election of New Hamas Gaza Strip Leader Increases Fears of Confrontation'.
  106. Eldar, 'Why Hamas Refused to Return IDF Remains'.
  107. Kifah Ziboun, 'Hamas Elects Yahya Sinwar New Leader in Gaza Strip', Asharq al-Awsat, February 14, 2017.
  108. Eldar, 'How Hamas' New Gaza Leader Came to Power'.
  109. Khaled Hroub, Hamas: Political Thought and Practice (Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 2000), 49.
  110. Khaled Hroub, 'A Newer Hamas? The Revised Charter', Journal of Palestine Studies 46, no. 4 (2016–17): 108.
  111. Ibid., 100, 109.
  112. Ahmad Abu Amer, 'Has Iran's Influence Increased in Palestinian Arena?', al-Monitor, October 15, 2018.
  113. Manasra, 'Intakhabat "al-jihad al-islami"'.
  114. Quoted in 'The Leader of Hamas in Gaza Is the Most Influential Man in Palestine', Economist, May 26, 2018.
  115. Raf Sanchez and Abu Bakr Bashir, 'Why Hardline Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Is Gambling on an Unlikely Truce with Israel', Telegraph, October 3, 2018.
  116. 'In Interview with Israeli Paper, Hamas Chief Defends Group's Terror Tactics', Times of Israel, October 5, 2018.
  117. Shourideh C. Molavi, Environmental Warfare in Gaza: Colonial Violence and New Landscapes of Resistance (London: Pluto Press, 2024), 81–2.
  118. Maram Humaid, '"We Want to Return to Our Lands without Bloodshed or Bombs"', al-Jazeera, March 30, 2018, aljazeera.com.
  119. Bram Wispelwey and Yasser Abu Jamel, 'The Great March of Return: Lessons from Gaza on Mass Resistance and Mental Health', Health and Human Rights Journal 22, no. 1 (2020): 180; Molavi, Environmental Warfare in Gaza, 86.
  120. UN Human Rights, 'Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory', February 25, 2019: 5.
  121. 'Military Fired Teargas at Family Tents Far from Fence during Gaza Protests, Injuring Hundreds', B'Tselem, April 20, 2018, btselem.org.
  122. 'Six Months On: Gaza's Great March of Return', Amnesty International, October 19, 2018, amnesty.org; see also 'And Now for the Whitewashing', B'Tselem, May 24, 2021, btselem.org
  123. Baconi, Hamas Contained, 159.
  124. Yolanda Knell, 'Gaza Economic Protests Expose Cracks in Hamas's Rule', BBC News, March 18, 2019.
  125. Michael Barak, The 'Tunnel Strategy' among Palestinian Armed Factions in the Gaza Strip (Herzliya: International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, 2019), 9.
  126. Eado Hecht, 'Gaza: How Hamas Tunnel Network Grew', BBC News, July 22, 2014.
  127. Pelham, 'Hamas's Deadly "Phantom"'.
  128. Adolfo Arranz et al., 'Inside the Tunnels of Gaza', Reuters, December 31, 2023; Pamela Brown and Zachary Cohen, 'Hamas Operatives Used Phone Lines Installed in Tunnels under Gaza to Plan Israel Attack over 2 Years, Sources Familiar with Intelligence Say', CNN, October 24, 2023.
  129. Madjid Zerrouky, 'Hamas's Relentless Efforts to Build up Its Military Arsenal in Gaza', Le Monde, October 11, 2023; Erik Skare, 'Digital Surveillance/Militant Resistance: Categorizing the "Proto-state Hacker"', Television and New Media 20, no. 7 (November 2019): 670–85.
  130. Quoted in Erik Skare, Digital Jihad: Palestinian Resistance in the Digital Era (London: Zed Books, 2016), 112.
  131. Adnan Abu Amer, 'Report Outlines How Iran Smuggles Arms to Hamas', Al-Monitor, April 9, 2021.
  132. Brad Lendon, 'How Does Hamas Get Its Weapons? A Mix of Improvisation, Resourcefulness and a Key Overseas Benefactor', CNN, October 12, 2023.
  133. Amos Harel, 'Chilling Warnings Picked up by Israeli Intelligence Months before October 7 Massacre', Haaretz, November 27, 2023.
  134. Issacharoff, 'Hamas Masses Troops on Israeli Border, Trains for New Round of Fighting', Times of Israel, June 28, 2015.