The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, Ḥarakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization formed in 1981.
PIJ formed as an offshoot of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and was influenced ideologically in its formation by the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It is a member of the Alliance of Palestinian Forces, which rejects the Oslo Accords and whose objective is the establishment of a sovereign Islamic Palestinian state.BBC Who are Islamic Jihad? 9 June 2003 It calls for the military destruction of Israel and rejects a two-state solution. The organization's financial backing has historically come mainly from Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. Since 2014, PIJ has seen its power steadily increase with the backing of funds from Iran. PIJ has notably participated in the ongoing Gaza war (2023–present), fighting alongside Hamas and other allied Palestinian factions.
The armed wing of PIJ is Al-Quds Brigades (also known as "Saraya"), also formed in 1981, which is active in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with its main strongholds in the West Bank being the cities of Hebron and Jenin. Its operations have included suicide bombings, attacks on Israeli civilians, as well as the firing of rockets into Israel, targeting civilians. PIJ has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,Statement Of Case To Renew The Designation Of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) As A Terrorist Entity , 2013 Israel, and Japan.
PIJ is considered by Israel the most extreme Palestinian militant organization in its methods and its ideology.
In 2026, PIJ militants consented to the Board of Peace's disarmament plan for Gaza.
History and background
Establishment PIJ was formally established in Gaza in 1981 by six Palestinian activists, most notably: Fathi abd al-Aziz Shaqaqi, a Rafah-based physician, Shaykh Abd al-Aziz Awda, an Islamic preacher from the Jabaliyya refugee camp, as well as Ramadan Shalah, Bashir Moussa. Based in Egypt, Shaqaqi and Awda were originally members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Their views on the necessity of the destruction of Israel led them in 1979 to establish the Egyptian Islamic Jihad branch Egyptian Islamic Jihad-Shaqaqi Faction and conduct militant operations out of Egypt. After the assassination of Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president the Shaqaqi faction was expelled from Egypt due to Egypt uncovering the groups connections to the perpetrators. Shaqaqi and Awda returned to Gaza where they formally established PIJ,STATEMENT OF CASE TO DESIGNATE PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD (PIJ) AS A TERRORIST ENTITY , New Zealand, October 2000 from where it continued its operations.
The aim of the organization was the establishment of a sovereign Islamic Palestinian state within the geographic borders of pre-1948 Mandatory Palestine. Completely rejecting the political process, the organization professes that its goals can only be achieved through military means. PIJ began its armed operations against Israel in 1984. Palestinian Islamic Jihad only announced its existence publicly on December 11th 1987, but its existence was already widely known.
Intifada era During the First Intifada PIJ would use both terrorism and civil resistance, initially the PIJ had only 300 members but they had far more ideological supporters which gave them disproportionate influence for their size. Early in the Intifada it seemed likely that the group would merge with the PLO largely due to their mutual initial disapproval of violence at the time. But this never happened because the UNLU disliked the PIJ and prevented the merger, though the groups still cooperated periodically. In the first month of the Intifada it was very active in organizing and calling for protests but after the start of 1988 the groups decreased in activity and was crippled in March 1988 when the IDF arrested many of the leaders and members. It took the group until Fall of 1988 to regroup and after it did it took on a more militant approach and ended its relationship with the PLO.
In 1988, its leaders were exiled by Israel to Lebanon. While in Lebanon, the group received training, support and other backing from Hezbollah and its backers in Iran, and developed a close relationship with the organization. In 1990, the headquarters of PIJ moved to the Syrian capital, Damascus, where it continues to be based,Taylor & Francis, Ltd., "The Damascus-Based Alliance of Palestinian Forces: A Primer" Journal of Palestine Studies (Spring 2000), pp. 60–76 (JSTOR ref.) with offices in Beirut, Tehran, and Khartoum. PIJ masterminded several suicide attacks in Israel. From the late 80's to mid 90's PIJ had a rivalry with Hamas as they competed for sway over more radical Palestinians, though as time went on they would grow closer.
By 1993 PIJ had reached its strongest point yet, but the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and the Oslo Accords marked a severe downturn in the groups fortunes. Renewed hope in peace among Palestinian led to a crash in the popularity of PIJ, which continued to advocate a violent approach, while security co-operation between Israel and the PA led to many PIJ members and leader being killed or imprisoned, by the late 1990's the movement had been nearly wiped out. The Second Intifada though allowed for a resurgence in the group, growing lawlessness and a breakdown in Israel-PA cooperation eased military pressure while the Palestinian populace had shifted to a more violent mentality. But as Israeli counterinsurgency efforts picked up steam the Second Intifada came to an end the group was once again but on the defensive, being temporarily eliminated from the West Bank by 2005.
Post-Intifadas During the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections and subsequent Battle of Gaza, PIJ believed that internal division would weaken the Palestinian movement and that Palestinian violence's only legitimate target was Israel and so worked with the PFLP and DFLP to mend ties between Fatah and Hamas.
In February 2012, the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip distanced itself from PIJ. During the March 2012 Gaza–Israel clashes, which followed the Israeli assassination of Popular Resistance Committees leader, Zuhir al-Qaisi, who bragged of kidnapping Gilad Shalit, PIJ and PRC opened attacks on Israel. Hamas refrained from joining PIJ and PRC in attacking Israel. Over a hundred Palestinians were killed or injured in the ensuing violence, but no Hamas targets were killed. The subsequent ceasefire was negotiated between Israel and the militant groups, not Hamas.
In May 2015, London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported that Iran had stopped funding PIJ due to the group's neutrality over the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, throwing PIJ into a severe financial crisis. Iran had expected PIJ to condemn the intervention led by Saudi Arabia, Iran's chief regional rival. Palestinian newspaper al-Quds reported that Iran began supporting an offshoot of PIJ called as-Sabirin (Arabic for "the patient ones"), headed by Islamic Jihad veteran Hisham Salem.
Under the former leadership of Ramadan Shalah, the group would receive approximately US$70 million per year from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.Eldar, Shlomi. (5 February 2019). "Islamic Jihad, the new lord of Gaza?" Al-Monitor website Retrieved 14 November 2019.
In 2021 the Jenin Brigade, an umbrella group of various militant groups in Jenin, of which PIJ is a part of would be founded. In 2022 the Tulkarm Brigade, Nablus Brigade, Tubas Brigade, Nur Shams Brigade, Qabatiya Brigade would be founded as similar local umbrella groups. And in 2023 the Ramallah Brigade would be founded, which unlike the other brigades only consisted of PIJ.
In 2026, PIJ militants agreed to the Board of Peace disarmament plan for Gaza.
United States PIJ interactions On 20 February 2003, University of South Florida computer engineering professor Sami Al-Arian was arrested after being indicted on a terrorism-related charge. U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft alleged at a press conference that Al-Arian was the North American head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. On 6 December 2006, Sami Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison, pursuant to a plea bargain.St. Petersberg Times, 23 April 2006. In November 2006 he was found guilty of civil contempt for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury and served 21 months in prison on that conviction. On 27 June 2014, the US Federal Government dropped all charges against Al-Arian. On 23 January 1995, the founder of PIJ, Abd Al Aziz Awda, was indicted under United States law and added in 2006 to the United States FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.
On June 30th 2026 Catherine Beth Washburn the leader of Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation an anti-Zionist domestic extremist group was arrested for donating $30,116 to PIJ. She expressed extremist, antisemitic, and anti-Zionist views.
Ideology, motives and beliefs
Goals and Methods In a series of by-laws PIJ identified it's aims as such:
The Islamization of Palestinian identity The instigation of general popular revolution amongst Palestinians against Israel The realization of the Islamic unity through collective jihad The destruction of Israel
The group also identified its methods as such:
The creation of a "state of terror, instability, and panic in the souls of Zionists and especially the groups of settlers, forcing them to leave their homes" The creation of a "psychological barrier between Jews and the Muslim Palestinian people” and the “conviction that coexistence is impossible.”
Anti-Zionism Palestinian Islamic Jihad's ideological foundations lie in a synthesis of Palestinian Nationalism, which it viewed as too secular, and Jihadi Islamism, which it viewed as not focused enough on Palestine, combining the two into a Islam focused Palestinian Nationalism. Yehudit Barsky, a Middle East counterterrorism specialist, explains that the PIJ views itself as “revolutionary vanguard" who have taken up the responsibility of purifying the Islamic world by eliminating all western influence within it. They believe that Israel is the primary western outpost in the Muslim World through which it disseminates its anti-islamic influence. In these goals the PIJ believes that terrorism and the intentional killing of civilians are acceptable practices and that "Jihad is the solution to liberate Palestine and topple the Infidel regimes".
In his 2007 book Facts and Stances PIJ’s second secretary-general Ramadan Abdallah Shallah, explained the three reasons Palestine is the groups primary focus in what it views as an international Islamic struggle.
the religious and legal dimension, which presents Palestine in the religion as a blessed land in the text of the Qur’an This dimension also shows the inevitability of confrontation between us and the Jews, and this is what is confirmed by the Qur’an and the sunna, in particular by surat al-isra’...
The second is the historical dimension that places the Zionist offensive within the context of war, the Jews as historical enemies, and their cunning against the religion since the emergence of the [Arabic script] until the present day. it also includes the Western enemies since the Battle of Muta and Tabuk via the crusader wars down to the inculcation of the Zionist entity into the heart of the umma, Palestine. That is, the Zionist entity as the spearhead of the Western project, and as the culmination of its recent attack on the Islamic East, which began as the campaign of Napoleon in the late eighteenth century...