AUGUST 19, 2011 LEAVE A COMMENT
The terrorist attack in southern Israel on August 18 in which eight Israelis were killed – six civilians and two from the security forces – was initiated and executed by the Palestinian terrorist organization known as the “Popular Resistance Committees,” which operate as a terrorist arm of Hamas. The operation represents a change in the approach of Hamas toward the issue of the “Arab Spring,” from acting only passively as an observer, limiting itself to damage control, to an entirely new stance in an attempt to reshape reality in the Middle East.
The Popular Resistance Committees were established at the beginning of the Second Intifada at the end of September 2000 by Jamal Abu Samhadana, who brought together under his command former officers who served in the Palestinian security services as well as activists from Fatah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other groups. The ideology of the Popular Resistance Committees is based on an extremist version of Islamism, which places the organization in the same category as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and even al-Qaeda. The Popular Resistance Committees were responsible for the October 2003 bombing attack on a U.S. convoy in Gaza in which three American security personnel were killed.
Islam, in their view, is seen as the solution, or even a cure, for all the problems of the Palestinian people. The leadership of the Popular Resistance Committees believes that both “resistance in all its aspects” and “jihad as the way of Allah” are the only paths to liberate all of Palestine. Hizbullah is perceived, in this context, as an exemplar model of how to wage the struggle against Israel.
The ideological affinity between the Popular Resistance Committees and Hamas is also expressed through a strategic alliance which includes close operational and political cooperation in recent years. The Popular Resistance Committees backed the Hamas demand to hold Palestinian parliamentary elections, as planned, in 2006 and supported their religious approach which sought legal justifications for participating in the elections. During the election campaign, the Popular Resistance Committees stood on the side of Hamas and their activists were instructed to assist Hamas with its propaganda on behalf of candidates for Hamas’ Change and Reform list. Read the rest on:
Jerusalem Center Blog
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