Palestinian militants of Islamic Jihad

The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel.

Their goal is the destruction of the state of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad was created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood believed that the organization was becoming too moderate and did not commit enough effort to the Palestinian struggle. During the late 1970s, the founders of the PIJ, Fathi Shaqaqi and Abd al-Aziz Awda created the group to fight for the sovereignty of Palestine and the destruction of Israel.

Shaqaqi and Awda conducted operations out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. The PIJ continued its work in Gaza until it was exiled to Lebanon in 1987. While in Lebanon, the group was able to receive training from Hezbollah and ultimately developed a close relationship with the Lebanese organization. While in Lebanon, the PIJ adopted the use of suicide bombing and other forms of terrorism as their principle method of achieving their goals. In 1989, the PIJ moved its operation to Damascus where it remains to this day

Photo /Mohammed Othman