Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza: Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad

Though it does not include the response to the recent peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, this book is a worthwhile expert's guide to the history, strategy and thinking of the Muslim Brotherhood, noted for its political wing, Hamas, and the smaller, more purist Islamic Jihad. The two growing Islamic fundamentalist groups have been challenging the authority of the secular, nationalist PLO. Abu-Amr, a political science professor at Birzeit University on the West Bank, has a dry academic style, but he draws valuably from a range of Arabic sources and personal interviews. He charts the groups' roles in the intifada , which began in 1987, including the Muslim Brotherhood's evolution from a nonviolent group to armed resistance through Hamas. This move brought the Brotherhood closer to the previously hostile Islamic Jihad. The author concludes that the Palestinian secular tradition and the desire for pluralism may hamper the Islamic movement; but he also predicts that if the PLO fails to achieve self-determination, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have links to a growing world Islamic movement, will continue to gain influence. (Mar.)