All-New Terrorist Evil-Doers Trading Card # 3 of 55 - Islamic Jihad.  *** COLLECT THEM ALL! ***

Gaza casualty

ISLAMIC JIHAD

International terrorist network of Islamic militant fundamentalists, funded initially by CIA and Saudi Arabia, and trained mostly by Pakistan's ISI spy agency and other CIA assets, and also by CIA itself.  Direct CIA involvement occurred primarily in the early years of Islamic Jihad militarization and radicalization, during the late 1970's and the early to mid 1980's.  Training activities were later taken over by Pakistani ISI agents, who were judged to be better able to manipulate these groups, and who helped to conceal U.S. involvement.  Most Islamic Jihadists tend to be unaware, or, at least, at one time were unaware of the role they play or played for Washington.
Although the original purpose for creating Islamic Jihad was to bring down the Soviet Union, many of its members have since gone their own ways, with many turning against Pakistan, and many more turning their efforts against Israel and the United States, seemingly, like a berserker Frankenstein monster unleashed.  Besides the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, for which they have been credited, terrorist activities in Chechnya and other former Soviet territories have continued, and continue to be encouraged and abetted by the U.S. and NATO.

Islamic Jihad's member groups view the U.S. to be more than supportive of Israel, and the Israeli terrorist spy agency Mossad, but less than sympathetic, if not openly hostile, towards Arab causes.  The Islamic Jihad is badly and incompletely covered by most U.S. and European media news clowns, and is poorly understood by most U.S. citizens, as a monolithic umbrella group which is thought to include Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, and Fatah, among many others.  In practice, many of these groups are actually bitter rivals, and there seems to be very little real cooperation or collaborative organization between them.

In the course of the Intifada, Hamas gained momentum and expanded its activities in the Palestinian West Bank to become the dominant Islamic militant organization in Israel and the Palestinian territories.  It defined its highest priority as Jihad (Holy War) for the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of an Islamic Palestine "from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River".  By its staunch opposition to the U.S. and Israel, more than by its participation in street violence and murder, Hamas has boosted its appeal in the eyes of many oppressed Palestinians, further enhancing its growth potential, and enabling it to play a central role in the Intifada.  Ironically, victims of Hamas terrorism include many Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic men, women, and children, as well as the targeted Israelis and foreigners.

Hamas was outlawed in September 1989, and receives no open support or backing by the Palestinian National Authority.  Since the Gulf War, it has become the leading perpetrator of terrorist activity in Palestinian territories and Israel.  Today it is the second most powerful militant Islamic group, after Fatah, and is usually viewed as threatening the hegemony of the secular Arab nationalists.  It is currently one of the strongest opposition groups to the peace process.  Terrorist activities are focused on suicide bombings and other attacks against civilian targets in Israel, which have steadily escalated since February-March 1996.

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The text of this trading card was freely adapted and brazenly plagiarized from several uncredited original sources by the Curmudgeonly Old Fussbudget.