Civilian Jihad

This book examines the role of nonviolent civil resistance in challenging tyranny and promoting democratic-self rule in the greater Middle East using case studies and analyses of how religion, youth, women, technology and external actors have influenced the outcome of civil resistance in the region.

Draws from a novel survey on civil resistance against the IS in Mosul after the IS lost control of the city. Utilizes contemporary Arab-language social media blogs and news websites in order to document protests against jihadists in Syria. Includes interviews with activists and civilian in Syria and Lebanon who have lived under rule of jihadist groups.

The book primarily covers the subject of conflict between the West and the Muslim world. It gives a concise view providing a simple entry point for the readers to this vast subject, and with the varied topics, it will be informative and interesting for the reader. It starts by examining the causes of conflict and the various related issues. The book also delves into the historical factors that have created the fault lines in the Middle East and aided the rise of Political Islam. Controversial subjects are addressed; the role of civilians in warfare and asks are they innocent, analyses the media propaganda regarding Jihad and suicide bombers, finally it examines the violent response of some homegrown Muslims to Western foreign policy.

In Confronting the Caliphate, Isak Svensson and co-authors focus on a core set of questions: What can civilians, who oppose the jihadists' attempt to rule them, do to manifest their dissent? To what extent are civilians engaging in acts of resistance against jihadist rebel rule and what does such resistance look like? Does it matter, and can it in any way influence the trajectories of jihadist proto-states? New military and political realities in Iraq and Syria have opened up the possibility to generate new knowledge in areas where the IS has been pushed back. The authors draw from a novel sur.

This book investigates the many faces of Hamas and examines its ongoing evolution as a resistance organisation in the context of the Israel/Palestine conflict. Specifically, the work interrogates Hamas’ interpretation, reinterpretation and application of the twin concepts of muqawama (resistance) and jihad (striving in the name of God). The text frames the movement’s capacity to accrue popular legitimacy through its evolving resistance discourses, centred on the notion of jihad, and the practical applications thereof. Moving beyond the dominant security-orientated approaches to Hamas, the book investigates the malleable nature of both resistance and jihad including their social, symbolic, political and ideational applications. The diverse interpretations of these concepts allow Hamas to function as a comprehensive social movement. Where possible, this volume attempts to privilege first-order or experiential knowledge emanating from the movement itself, its political representatives, and the Palestinian population in general. Many of these accounts were collected by the author during fieldwork in the Middle East. Not only does this work present new primary data, but it also investigates a variety of contemporary empirical events related to Palestine and the Middle East. This book offers an alternative way of viewing the movement’s popular legitimacy grounded in theoretical, empirical and ethnographic terms. This book will be of much interest to students of Hamas, political violence, critical terrorism studies, Middle Eastern politics, security studies and IR in general.

How does a group that operates terror cells and espouses violence become a ruling political party? How is the world to understand and respond to Hamas, the militant Islamist organization that Palestinian voters brought to power in the stunning election of January 2006? This important book provides the most fully researched assessment of Hamas ever written. Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism expert with extensive field experience in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, draws aside the veil of legitimacy behind which Hamas hides. He presents concrete, detailed evidence from an extensive array of international intelligence materials, including recently declassified CIA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security reports. Levitt demolishes the notion that Hamas’ military, political, and social wings are distinct from one another and catalogues the alarming extent to which the organization’s political and social welfare leaders support terror. He exposes Hamas as a unitary organization committed to a militant Islamist ideology, urges the international community to take heed, and offers well-considered ideas for countering the significant threat Hamas poses.

"A Middle East scholar writes in a clear straightforward manner, carefully explaining who the terrorists are, whre they come from, how they justify killing civilians in the name of God, and why the United States has become the latest target"--Box.