Mideast: Are Hamas and the PIJ Working Together in the Midst of Normalization Agreements?

MAHMUD HAMS / Stringer

The normalization of relations between several Gulf countries and Israel has prompted factions within the Palestinian Territories to declare their clear disdain for such deals, including the ever-controversial Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. What separates these two groups, and will they seek consolidation considering these recent agreements? 

In the midst of the United Arab Emirates-Israel normalization agreement that arose in early August several political factions within the Palestinian Territories, as well as outside of the country, have made their disdain for the agreement and the subsequent Gulf-Israel deals that came after clear; some even going so far as to declare insurrection in response to normalization talks. Including is Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), two groups that have had their differences in recent history but are seemingly close to aligning considering recent happenings. 

Hamas was founded in 1987 while the PIJ was founded earlier in 1981 but began conducting militant maneuverings in 1987. Both groups have relatively similar goals and motivations and prescribe an adversarial position on the Israeli state through religious leaning rhetoric. Both call for the destruction of the Israeli state and are known for their aggressive militant arms as well as for their designation as terrorist groups by some members of the international community. Both groups were not included in the Oslo Accords and are members of the Alliance of Palestinian Forces made up of those factions that apposed Oslo negotiations. Moreover, neither group is part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and were both offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood when they were first formed.  

However, Hamas and the PIJ have had their differences, most notably when it comes to their involvement in politics and with the Palestinian Authority as well as their source of funding and support. 

Structure and Support 

Both Hamas and the PIJ work heavily within the Gaza Strip and are known to conduct military activity in the area. Hamas remains a political party in the country and works within the Palestinian National Authority, the Palestinian government body working in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Although Hamas’s relationship with other political parties and indeed the political structure of the Palestinian Territories is strained, it remains a powerful political broker in the region and has elicited support through activism and already present religious institutions, such as mosques, to form networks of support and resource mobilization. Currently, Hamas remains the de-facto ruling power in the Gaza Strip. 

In turn, the PIJ remains outside of the Palestinian Authority and does not wish to enter the political scene but instead is a strictly militant organization that, unlike Hamas, does not engage any sort of social services. Moreover, compared to Hamas, support of the PIJ is relatively small; and it is not far-reaching to assume that both factions compete to garner support from a similar pool of  Islamist leaning citizens. With that said, the PIJ is well known for its relationship with Iran who actively supports them through financing the organization and having them work with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. In fact, relations with Iran have apparently also been a source of strain between the PIJ and Hamas which have seen their relationship suffer because of Hamas’s off-again on-again relationship with the Iranian state.  

Relations in the Wake of Normalization Agreements 

The PIJ and Hamas have worked together in the past. In late 2019, the groups even declared that they would work together formally against the Israeli state. Most recently in the midst of normalization agreements between Israel and several Gulf Arab states and the particularly adverse position of Palestinian’s in contemporary geopolitics, both groups may very well continue to work together and perhaps converge in matters of militant activities in an effort to consolidate some sort of resistance to Israeli domination in regional geopolitics, especially as it relates to emerging relationships between lukewarm supporters of a Palestinian state. On August 24th, both Hamas, the PIJ, as well as Iran, called on a “uprising” in the midst of the then recently signed UAE-Israel deal. Representatives of Hamas and the PIJ declared their disdain for these recent moves and have vowed to create a resistance against attempts at normalization which they fear will bring an end to Palestinian self-determination and will sweep Palestinian liberation efforts under the rug. 

As the PIJ leader announced even more recently “We want the Palestinian people and their leadership to be in a clear and unified project away from the illusion of peace.” Referring to mainstream political attempts at finding a settlement between Israeli and Palestinian camps, the PIJ leader’s remarks come at a time where Hamas and the organization may find it in their best interests to collaborate. It remains to be seen what sort of impact their possible allegiance may make in the region all though it is not far off to assume that any sort of maneuvering between the organizations will bring with it unneeded violence and an escalation of tensions that will most likely harm the Palestinians themselves. Perhaps instead more attention should be given to more peaceful, or indeed genuine grassroots attempts at involving Palestinians in the peace process and within wider regional dialogues. Hamas and the PIJ and their aggressive armed wings are the result of an inept political structure in the Palestinian Territories that has failed to represent genuine Palestinian interests and has opened up an opportunity structure for less-than-peaceful bad actors to enter into the political and military sphere of the region and wage aggression without any check or resistance from responsible political actors. Are Hamas and the PIJ going to work together in the near future? Most likely. Perhaps a more relevant question, however, maybe how to overcome bad actors working within the Palestinian Territories such as Hamas and the PIJ, and how can this be done through the involvement of the Palestinian people themselves.