Islamic Jihad: Who they are

Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) originated in the Gaza Strip in the 1970s. It is perhaps the best-known group associated with Palestinian militancy. Committed to the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state, it also favours the destruction of Israel through holy war.

The group was founded by three Palestinian students studying in Egypt in the late 1970s - Fathi Shikaki, Abdul Aziz Odeh and Bashir Moussa

As well as having operatives based in Israel, it also has a presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and other parts of the Middle East, including Lebanon and Syria, where its leadership is believed to be based. It receives financial assistance from Iran and limited logistic assistance from Syria. It believes the Arab-Israeli conflict will only be resolved through armed confrontation. As well as being a vehement enemy of Israel, it also opposes moderate Arab governments that it believes have been tainted by Western influence.

The group is made up of a handful of loosely-affiliated groups divided into cells. It is believed to be a relatively small group, but its exact size is unknown. It specialises in attacks on Israeli soil and has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000.

Its activities range from armed infiltrations of Jewish settlements to car bombs and suicide bombings on Israeli buses. It has also carried out less conventional terrorist attacks. In May 2001, it abducted two 14-year-old boys from a West Bank settlement and stoned them to death.

In its early days. it was aligned closely with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. But when Arafat renounced the armed struggle against Israel in the 1980s. it did its best to derail Arafat's peace efforts, carrying out a number of bomb attacks, including suicide nail bombings, in 1995 and 1996, leaving dozens dead. It is supported by many ordinary Palestinians who have frequently taken to the streets to celebrate when acts of Jihad violence are committed on Israeli streets.