Customer Reviews

Palestinian Religious Terrorism: Hamas and Islamic Jihad

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The book gives the reader a great reference work on religious terrorism. The inclusion of hard-to-find materials in very helpful, especially for journalists such as me.

In Yonah Alexander's Palestinian Religious Terrorism: Hamas and Islamic Jihad nothing profound is stated nor are there any newly developed concepts about Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Rather Alexander's book is intended as a quick reference for academics, students, the press, and interested parties. Alexander gives a very brief history of each group, their ideologies and objectives and where they receive their funding. Furthermore he briefly discusses their targets, tactics and capabilities, their organizational structure and leadership. Also included in his book is the Hamas Charter, Communiqués and Political statements but only as far back as 1998, Military Communiqués dated back only too January of 2001 and Press Releases dated back to 1999. Alexander also provides an extensive bibliography on not only Hamas and Islamic Jihad but also the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to include seven pages of books, four pages of articles, a couple on newspaper and periodicals and even includes two pages of websites. I found one of the most helpful parts of his book is the timeline of activities carried out by both the groups and Israeli actions against them. Searching through headlines of various newspapers trying to detail the activities of these groups is very time consuming but Alexander's book place all of the incidents at your fingertips. Overall, if you're looking for an in-depth discussion of Hamas and Islamic Jihad this is not the book for you but if need a good, quick reference book on these two organization then Alexander's Palestinian Religious Terrorism: Hamas and Islamic Jihad is just what you need.

Palestinian Religious Terrorism: Hamas And Islamic Jihad by Yonah Alexander (Senior Fellow and Director, International Center for Terrorism Studies, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and Director, Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies) is a straightforward, authoritative presentation of the history, composition, organization, and workings of the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. Palestinian Religious Terrorism covers everything from the Hamas official charter, ideology, tactics, and time line, to copies of selected Hamas documents including military communiques and press releases. A highly factual book written to present solid information with academic objectivity on a ruthless and deadly terrorist organization, Palestinian Religious Terrorism is an invaluable and timely contribution to the growing library of International Terrorist reference materials.

I bought this book because i thought it would give me an acdemic explanation and analysis about Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
It turns out to be a total flop and worthless; there is no analyses, no explanations, and no deep research, all the author does is mention names, dates, locations, and press releases.
I was so upset to spend such a huge sum of money on it, and frankly i dont advise buying the book.
You can get the same information by either clicking the website of the two organistions, or going to a newspaper archive and looking into the folders.

"The forces of Imperialism in both the Capitalist West and the Communist East support the enemy with all their might, in material and human terms, taking turns between themselves. When Islam appears, all the forces of Unbelief unite to confront it, because the Community of Unbelief is one." (p 62, from Article 22 of the Charter of the Hamas)

Also according to Article 22, "the forces of Unbelief" control huge material wealth, and have used that to take control of the world media, press, broadcasting, etc, supported the French and Commie revolutions, and created secret societies like the Freemasons, Rotary, Lions Club, B'nai B'rith, etc. Gee, guess who they're talking about. Hamas, like the PLO and Islamic Jihad, continue the Nazi agenda, and like Nazis everywhere believe the Jews control the world through conspiracies.

If US and European journalists (and alleged journalists) were required to read this book before writing, editing, and publishing about the Middle East, there'd be fewer problems with spin in their stories.

Let's be honest - the book contains 50 pages covering both Hamas and Islamic Jihad history, tactics and targets. The next 300 pages consist of press releases form the organizations. If that's what you want, spend the [money]. If you want analysis or thought, spend your money elsewhere, this book has none.

Palestinian Religious Terrorism: Hamas And Islamic Jihad by Yonah Alexander (Senior Fellow and Director, International Center for Terrorism Studies, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and Director, Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies) is a straightforward, authoritative presentation of the history, composition, organization, and workings of the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. Palestinian Religious Terrorism covers everything from the Hamas official charter, ideology, tactics, and time line, to copies of selected Hamas documents including military communiques and press releases. A highly factual book written to present solid information with academic objectivity on a ruthless and deadly terrorist organization, Palestinian Religious Terrorism is an invaluable and timely contribution to the growing library of International Terrorist reference materials.

Dr. Alexander's book is a poor attempt to examine two important Palestininan Islamic terrorist groups. The title and price suggest this book will give the reader a "nuts to bolts" examination of both groups: origins, leaders, beliefs, organization, history, etc. In fact, the book reveals little about either group, and is merely a document collection consisting of charters, fatwas, and other related documents. The documents take up the bulk of the pages, and the analysis could be bolied down to 10 pages or less. Dr. Alexander's analysis, for example, of Hamas' organizational structure consists of three sentences that provide no insight into how Hamas operates. He does not address the critical issue of whether Hamas' military and political wing are materially and philosophically seperate or interlocked. This book should be renamed "PIJ and Hamas: A Collection of Documents" and sell for $10 or less (since most of the information can be found on the web anyway).