The Gaza Strip: an Overcrowded Playground
While Hamas is the governing element responsible for Gaza, numerous other organizations operate alongside it in the coastal enclave, some of which are even more radical and strive for a direct confrontation with Israel. Lior Ackerman, a former senior ISA officer, attempts to map out the different actors in the Strip
Lior Ackerman
| 17/01/2019
Palestinian members of the Al-Quds Brigades march in Gaza (Photo: AP)
The Gaza Strip – such a small territory producing such a major problem for the State of Israel and the entire Middle East. The Gaza Strip is 41 kilometers long, has a total area of 360 square kilometers and a population of 1.7 million, yielding a density of 4,700 persons per square kilometer. This places the Gaza Strip as the world's No.6 in population density and No.7 in average annual population growth (3.1%). About half of the population is under the age of 17 years.
Following the armistice agreements between Israel and Egypt (1949/1950), the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian occupation. Israel captured the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War (1967) and local terrorism surged there in the early 1970s. IDF units, under the command of Maj. Gen. Ariel Sharon (who commanded IDF Southern Command in those days), embarked on the first counter-terrorism operation in the Gaza Strip, which led to a 15-year period of relative calm. The peace agreement between Israel and Egypt (1979) left the Gaza Strip in Israeli hands, and in 1987, the first Intifada erupted there, forcing the IDF and ISA to confront the various terrorist organizations operationally in the crowded refugee camps, notably Jabaliya, Shati, Nuseirat, Rafah, Deir al-Balah, and others.
In late 1987, religious clerics of the Islamist Mujamaa, which had operated as the Gaza Strip extension of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the 1980s, established the Hamas movement. Back then, the new movement concentrated on fundraising through donations, religious teachings and assistance to families in need, and the Israeli authorities allowed this activity. During the first Intifada, however, the organization turned to terrorism, abduction and murder of IDF troopers (Avi Sasportas, RIP and Ilan Saadon, RIP) and development of terrorist infrastructures in the Gaza Strip.
In 1994, according to the Oslo Agreements, the Palestinian Authority assumed responsibility for governing the Palestinian cities. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew all Israeli presence from the Gaza Strip only in 2005, about four years after the breakout of the second Intifada, in the context of his disengagement plan.
In June 2007, after a long term of corrupt rule by Fatah in the Gaza Strip, Hamas staged a coup against Fatah and the Palestinian Authority and managed to dominate the Gaza Strip through the support of the local inhabitants, who loathed the depravity and corruption of the Fatah officials. In response, Israel imposed an economic, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Over the years of the conflict opposite the Gaza Strip, the State of Israel has thus far completed eight large-scale military operations: Operation Rainbow and Operation Days of Penitence in 2004; Operation First Rain in 2005; Operation Summer Rains in 2006 and Operation Hot Winter in 2008. In 2009, the computer picked up – at random – a very apt title: Operation Cast Lead. In 2012, it was Operation Pillar of Defense and in the summer of 2014, Israel completed its eighth major military operation in the Gaza Strip – Operation Protective Edge.
Apparently, the IDF and Israeli Government boasted the periods of calm and the relative tranquility achieved following the above operations. But were those periods of calm the result of the severe blows Hamas had sustained every time, or just periods of respite during which Hamas could conveniently reorganize and prepare for the next round that never failed to arrive – and will probably occur again soon?
Hamas has ruled and managed the Gaza Strip since 2007. Anyone who reads and studies the Hamas Covenant carefully will realize that the welfare of the local inhabitants or the civil administration of their affairs were never a top priority for the Hamas activists. Hamas is a radical Islamist organization within the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. Their ultimate objective is the destruction of the State of Israel (and the other countries of the region, including the Palestinian Authority), followed by the establishment of a radical Islamist caliphate throughout the Middle East, which would operate according to the extreme laws of Sharia as the religious scholars of this organization interpret them. At the outset, Hamas enjoyed the widespread support of the local inhabitants, who regarded this organization as a savior from the corruption of the Fatah officials. However, the experience of the last few years, the fact that all of the aid funds funneled into the Gaza Strip are invested exclusively in the development of terrorism infrastructures and weapon systems instead of in the inhabitants' welfare, the relative hedonism of some Hamas leaders who embraced the pleasures of power, and the fact that the inhabitants' quality and standard of living have not improved in any way – have led to a shift of opinions and an increase in the calls for change.
Not Alone in the Picture
The above notwithstanding, Hamas is not the only player in this theater. Other organizations have been operating in the Gaza Strip all these years. Admittedly, Hamas and its military wing, the "Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades" are the dominant element as far as the firing of rockets and missiles into Israel and leading the terrorist activities and arson balloon attacks are concerned, but activists of the "Palestinian Islamic Jihad" (PIJ) are also active on the ground. This organization is even more radical than Hamas, and although it has a smaller number of activists, it still enjoys relatively widespread support among the local population and initiates terrorist attacks, rocket launches and attempts to intrude into Israeli territory.
On the ground, quite a few detachments of radical activists who belong – paradoxically – to the Fatah Movement, are also active. These armed groups are normally associated with the "Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades" organization, whose spokespersons have already declared their involvement in the firing of rockets into Israel.
Another organization, "Jaysh al-Asifah" (= The Storm Army) has even boasted publicly having fired 35 missiles into Israel.
Yet another sub-organization of Fatah, which has been operating in the Gaza Strip over the years, is the "Popular Resistance Committees" (PRC). This organization, established in 2000 by a dissident former member of Fatah, Jamal Abu Samhadana (who was No.2 on Israel's Most Wanted list and subsequently eliminated in 2006), combined activists from various organizations, including Fatah, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). It draws its inspiration from the radical ideological doctrine of Hezbollah and Hamas, and regards Jihad, terrorism and the armed struggle as the only device for the annihilation of the State of Israel. Over the years, this organization cooperated closely with Hamas and was involved in dozens of terrorist attacks, the most infamous of which was the attack against the IDF post in Kerem-Shalom and the abduction of IDF trooper Gilad Shalit, as well as in the firing of missiles more recently.
In 2006, the PRC split into three factions: the central faction – "Al-Nasser Salah ad-Deen Brigades," another faction called the "Popular Resistance Movement;" and a third faction – "The Army of Islam," identified with the world Salafist Jihad organizations. The latter faction has even announced its ideological affiliation to al-Qaeda. The relations between this organization and Hamas experienced ups-and-downs, cooperative alliances along with violent confrontations. As stated, this organization was involved in the abduction of Gilad Shalit and the British Journalist Alan Johnston, in the abduction and murder of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, and in the arson attack against the American school in Gaza.
The collapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt led to the weakening of the Egyptian control over the Sinai Peninsula and to the empowerment of the radical Salafist factions operating in the Peninsula and in the Gaza Strip. These factions include several hundreds or thousands of activists hailing from the Bedouin tribes living in the Sinai, with some having family relatives inside the Gaza Strip. The on-going difficulty of staging terrorist attacks out of the Gaza Strip directly into Israeli territory led to growing cooperation and to extensive use of underground tunnels for smuggling arms and operatives, which, in those days, were being built under the "Philadelphy Route." These tunnels offered freedom of movement to the south and enabled the terrorists to stage attacks against objectives on the Israeli side of the Egyptian-Israeli border, including the firing of rockets into the city of Eilat.
Fortunately, this mode of operation ceased to exist following the collapse of the regime of Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's ascent to power led to a massive military operation by the Egyptian Army against the Salafist activists in the Sinai, in the context of which the Egyptian forces destroyed most of the smuggling tunnels.
Another organization involved in the processes taking place in the Gaza Strip is "Ansar Bait al-Maqdis" – one of the most intensively active Salafist organizations in Sinai and the Gaza Strip. Former members of Hamas, Bedouins, and foreign nationals established this organization in Sinai in 2011, incorporating seven different Salafist factions. Since its establishment, this organization staged numerous terrorist attacks against the Egyptian security forces and strategic installations, like blowing up the Egyptian gas pipeline in Sinai, the assassination attempt on the Egyptian Minister of the Interior and the murder of 16 Egyptian Border Police troopers during the Month of Ramadan, 2012. The organization also announced its intention to attack Israeli tourists vacationing in Sinai. The attacks this organization has staged thus far also included several missile attacks against the city of Eilat. In June 2014, the organization issued a statement pledging its allegiance to the Islamic State organization (ISIS).
Over the last three years, several attempts were made to unify the diverse Salafist factions in the Gaza Strip under the flag of the Islamic State, to fight Israel out of the Gaza Strip and in preparation for future activity in the West Bank. The flags of this organization were spotted flying in funerals and various other events, but the organization issued a statement in which it clarified that their top priority was the struggle against the Shi'ite Muslims – not helping the Palestinian factions in their fight against Israel. In this context, it should be noted that Iran pledged to continue to support the Sunni terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.
Several other, smaller organizations are also active in the Gaza Strip. Some of them operate independently, allegedly under the flag of the Islamic State. These radical Salafist factions include the "Sons of ISIS in Jerusalem," the "Supporters of ISIS in Jerusalem," and the "Abdullah Azzam Brigades."
Hamas regards these factions as a threat to its hegemony in the Gaza Strip and often takes firm, violent action against their public activities and the open events these organizations hold. However, the common denominator of all of these organizations is the unwavering, radical religious ideology calling for the total destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of an Islamist alternative. I provided an elaborate answer to the question of "Should the State of Israel retain the rule of Hamas under these conditions?" in my previous article, published in the last issue of IsraelDefense.
***
Lior Ackerman is a commentator and expert on intelligence, Islam and terrorism affairs. In the past, he served as Deputy Division Head in the Israel Security Agency (ISA)
While Hamas is the governing element responsible for Gaza, numerous other organizations operate alongside it in the coastal enclave, some of which are even more radical and strive for a direct confrontation with Israel. Lior Ackerman, a former senior ISA officer, attempts to map out the different actors in the Strip
Palestinian members of the Al-Quds Brigades march in Gaza (Photo: AP)
The Gaza Strip – such a small territory producing such a major problem for the State of Israel and the entire Middle East. The Gaza Strip is 41 kilometers long, has a total area of 360 square kilometers and a population of 1.7 million, yielding a density of 4,700 persons per square kilometer. This places the Gaza Strip as the world's No.6 in population density and No.7 in average annual population growth (3.1%). About half of the population is under the age of 17 years.
Following the armistice agreements between Israel and Egypt (1949/1950), the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian occupation. Israel captured the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War (1967) and local terrorism surged there in the early 1970s. IDF units, under the command of Maj. Gen. Ariel Sharon (who commanded IDF Southern Command in those days), embarked on the first counter-terrorism operation in the Gaza Strip, which led to a 15-year period of relative calm. The peace agreement between Israel and Egypt (1979) left the Gaza Strip in Israeli hands, and in 1987, the first Intifada erupted there, forcing the IDF and ISA to confront the various terrorist organizations operationally in the crowded refugee camps, notably Jabaliya, Shati, Nuseirat, Rafah, Deir al-Balah, and others.
In late 1987, religious clerics of the Islamist Mujamaa, which had operated as the Gaza Strip extension of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the 1980s, established the Hamas movement. Back then, the new movement concentrated on fundraising through donations, religious teachings and assistance to families in need, and the Israeli authorities allowed this activity. During the first Intifada, however, the organization turned to terrorism, abduction and murder of IDF troopers (Avi Sasportas, RIP and Ilan Saadon, RIP) and development of terrorist infrastructures in the Gaza Strip.
In 1994, according to the Oslo Agreements, the Palestinian Authority assumed responsibility for governing the Palestinian cities. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew all Israeli presence from the Gaza Strip only in 2005, about four years after the breakout of the second Intifada, in the context of his disengagement plan.
In June 2007, after a long term of corrupt rule by Fatah in the Gaza Strip, Hamas staged a coup against Fatah and the Palestinian Authority and managed to dominate the Gaza Strip through the support of the local inhabitants, who loathed the depravity and corruption of the Fatah officials. In response, Israel imposed an economic, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Over the years of the conflict opposite the Gaza Strip, the State of Israel has thus far completed eight large-scale military operations: Operation Rainbow and Operation Days of Penitence in 2004; Operation First Rain in 2005; Operation Summer Rains in 2006 and Operation Hot Winter in 2008. In 2009, the computer picked up – at random – a very apt title: Operation Cast Lead. In 2012, it was Operation Pillar of Defense and in the summer of 2014, Israel completed its eighth major military operation in the Gaza Strip – Operation Protective Edge.
Apparently, the IDF and Israeli Government boasted the periods of calm and the relative tranquility achieved following the above operations. But were those periods of calm the result of the severe blows Hamas had sustained every time, or just periods of respite during which Hamas could conveniently reorganize and prepare for the next round that never failed to arrive – and will probably occur again soon?
Hamas has ruled and managed the Gaza Strip since 2007. Anyone who reads and studies the Hamas Covenant carefully will realize that the welfare of the local inhabitants or the civil administration of their affairs were never a top priority for the Hamas activists. Hamas is a radical Islamist organization within the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. Their ultimate objective is the destruction of the State of Israel (and the other countries of the region, including the Palestinian Authority), followed by the establishment of a radical Islamist caliphate throughout the Middle East, which would operate according to the extreme laws of Sharia as the religious scholars of this organization interpret them. At the outset, Hamas enjoyed the widespread support of the local inhabitants, who regarded this organization as a savior from the corruption of the Fatah officials. However, the experience of the last few years, the fact that all of the aid funds funneled into the Gaza Strip are invested exclusively in the development of terrorism infrastructures and weapon systems instead of in the inhabitants' welfare, the relative hedonism of some Hamas leaders who embraced the pleasures of power, and the fact that the inhabitants' quality and standard of living have not improved in any way – have led to a shift of opinions and an increase in the calls for change.
Not Alone in the Picture
The above notwithstanding, Hamas is not the only player in this theater. Other organizations have been operating in the Gaza Strip all these years. Admittedly, Hamas and its military wing, the "Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades" are the dominant element as far as the firing of rockets and missiles into Israel and leading the terrorist activities and arson balloon attacks are concerned, but activists of the "Palestinian Islamic Jihad" (PIJ) are also active on the ground. This organization is even more radical than Hamas, and although it has a smaller number of activists, it still enjoys relatively widespread support among the local population and initiates terrorist attacks, rocket launches and attempts to intrude into Israeli territory.
On the ground, quite a few detachments of radical activists who belong – paradoxically – to the Fatah Movement, are also active. These armed groups are normally associated with the "Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades" organization, whose spokespersons have already declared their involvement in the firing of rockets into Israel.
Another organization, "Jaysh al-Asifah" (= The Storm Army) has even boasted publicly having fired 35 missiles into Israel.
Yet another sub-organization of Fatah, which has been operating in the Gaza Strip over the years, is the "Popular Resistance Committees" (PRC). This organization, established in 2000 by a dissident former member of Fatah, Jamal Abu Samhadana (who was No.2 on Israel's Most Wanted list and subsequently eliminated in 2006), combined activists from various organizations, including Fatah, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). It draws its inspiration from the radical ideological doctrine of Hezbollah and Hamas, and regards Jihad, terrorism and the armed struggle as the only device for the annihilation of the State of Israel. Over the years, this organization cooperated closely with Hamas and was involved in dozens of terrorist attacks, the most infamous of which was the attack against the IDF post in Kerem-Shalom and the abduction of IDF trooper Gilad Shalit, as well as in the firing of missiles more recently.
In 2006, the PRC split into three factions: the central faction – "Al-Nasser Salah ad-Deen Brigades," another faction called the "Popular Resistance Movement;" and a third faction – "The Army of Islam," identified with the world Salafist Jihad organizations. The latter faction has even announced its ideological affiliation to al-Qaeda. The relations between this organization and Hamas experienced ups-and-downs, cooperative alliances along with violent confrontations. As stated, this organization was involved in the abduction of Gilad Shalit and the British Journalist Alan Johnston, in the abduction and murder of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, and in the arson attack against the American school in Gaza.
The collapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt led to the weakening of the Egyptian control over the Sinai Peninsula and to the empowerment of the radical Salafist factions operating in the Peninsula and in the Gaza Strip. These factions include several hundreds or thousands of activists hailing from the Bedouin tribes living in the Sinai, with some having family relatives inside the Gaza Strip. The on-going difficulty of staging terrorist attacks out of the Gaza Strip directly into Israeli territory led to growing cooperation and to extensive use of underground tunnels for smuggling arms and operatives, which, in those days, were being built under the "Philadelphy Route." These tunnels offered freedom of movement to the south and enabled the terrorists to stage attacks against objectives on the Israeli side of the Egyptian-Israeli border, including the firing of rockets into the city of Eilat.
Fortunately, this mode of operation ceased to exist following the collapse of the regime of Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's ascent to power led to a massive military operation by the Egyptian Army against the Salafist activists in the Sinai, in the context of which the Egyptian forces destroyed most of the smuggling tunnels.
Another organization involved in the processes taking place in the Gaza Strip is "Ansar Bait al-Maqdis" – one of the most intensively active Salafist organizations in Sinai and the Gaza Strip. Former members of Hamas, Bedouins, and foreign nationals established this organization in Sinai in 2011, incorporating seven different Salafist factions. Since its establishment, this organization staged numerous terrorist attacks against the Egyptian security forces and strategic installations, like blowing up the Egyptian gas pipeline in Sinai, the assassination attempt on the Egyptian Minister of the Interior and the murder of 16 Egyptian Border Police troopers during the Month of Ramadan, 2012. The organization also announced its intention to attack Israeli tourists vacationing in Sinai. The attacks this organization has staged thus far also included several missile attacks against the city of Eilat. In June 2014, the organization issued a statement pledging its allegiance to the Islamic State organization (ISIS).
Over the last three years, several attempts were made to unify the diverse Salafist factions in the Gaza Strip under the flag of the Islamic State, to fight Israel out of the Gaza Strip and in preparation for future activity in the West Bank. The flags of this organization were spotted flying in funerals and various other events, but the organization issued a statement in which it clarified that their top priority was the struggle against the Shi'ite Muslims – not helping the Palestinian factions in their fight against Israel. In this context, it should be noted that Iran pledged to continue to support the Sunni terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.
Several other, smaller organizations are also active in the Gaza Strip. Some of them operate independently, allegedly under the flag of the Islamic State. These radical Salafist factions include the "Sons of ISIS in Jerusalem," the "Supporters of ISIS in Jerusalem," and the "Abdullah Azzam Brigades."
Hamas regards these factions as a threat to its hegemony in the Gaza Strip and often takes firm, violent action against their public activities and the open events these organizations hold. However, the common denominator of all of these organizations is the unwavering, radical religious ideology calling for the total destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of an Islamist alternative. I provided an elaborate answer to the question of "Should the State of Israel retain the rule of Hamas under these conditions?" in my previous article, published in the last issue of IsraelDefense.
***
Lior Ackerman is a commentator and expert on intelligence, Islam and terrorism affairs. In the past, he served as Deputy Division Head in the Israel Security Agency (ISA)
