Draft:Mujama al-Islamiya takeover of the Islamic University of Gaza
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After its establishment in 1978, the Islamic University of Gaza became a key centre of conflict between the conservative Islamist Mujama al-Islamiya movement and the secular nationalist Palestinian Liberation Organisation, culminating in the takeover of the university by Mujama al-Islamiya.
Background
[edit]By the late-1970s, the Gaza Strip was significant internal tensions, including widespread poverty in the refugee camps, a growing revival of Islamic fundamentalism, a lack of elections, with local government figures being appointed by the Israeli Military Governorate, as well as conflict between leftist, Islamist, pro-Egyptian, and pro-Jordanian political factions. Israeli general and military governor of the Gaza Strip Yitzhak Segev told The New York Times in March 1981 that "the people are afraid of each other like animals," adding that the Israeli military used drug dealing networks as intelligence sources and that the military was funding Islamist fundamentalists in Gaza to combat the influence of the PLO.[1]
The Islamic University of Gaza was founded in 1978.
History
[edit]In February 1981, Mujama al-Islamiya convinced the Israeli Military Governorate to summon seven of the thirteen members of the university's senate to a meeting. Over the course of the meeting, all seven members were forced to resign.[2]
The early 1980s also saw a constant decrease in funding provided to the university by the PLO, as a result of the PLO's financial struggles as aid from Arab states decreased. Mujama al-Islamiya took advantage of that decrease to replace the PLO as the main funder of the university, receiving funds from Islamic organisations abroad, particularly the Saudi Muslim World League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.[3]
According to Israeli researchers Shaul Mishal and Avraham Sela, Mujama al-Islamiya sought to wage "an 'internal jihad' to impose the rules of Islam on the society."[3] Following its takeover of the university, Mujama al-Islamiya would appoint its own supporters to faculty positions and would enforce a strict conservative code of conduct on students and staff, including segregation of men and women, imposition of an Islamist dress code, as well as beatings and public humiliations of nationalist and leftist supporters.[2] Mujama al-Islamiya also began to use the campus grounds as a location to store handheld weapons which it planned to use against leftist Palestinians.[2]
According to Israeli researcher Barry Rubin, by the mid-1980s, the Islamic University had become the only Palestinian university in which Fatah was "a marginal force."[4] In the January 1983 student elections, the Islamist bloc won 51% of the vote. In 1986, the Islamist bloc won over 60% of the vote.[3]
Analysis
[edit]According to Israeli researchers Shaul Mishal and Avraham Sela, "the Mujamma's efforts to deepen its influence through lawful institutionalisation peaked with its succesful takeover of the Islamic University in Gaza."[3] According to Israeli researcher Barry Rubin, the conflict over the university was "the main feature" of the politicisation of Mujama al-Islamiya during the late 1970s, with "almost every key leader in Hamas subsequently" having passed through the university.[4] According to Francesco Saverio Leopardi of Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the takover of the university "laid the foundations for broad, youthful popular support [for Mujama al-Islamiya] in Gaza."[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Shipler, David K. (28 March 1981). "UNDER GAZA'S CALM SURFACE: DEATH, DRUGS, INTRIGUE". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
- ^ a b c Milton-Edwards, Beverely & Stephen Farrell. Hamas: The Quest for Power. John Wiley & Sons, 2024. Page 42-45.
- ^ a b c d Mishal, Shaul & Avraham Sela. The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence, and Coexistence. Columbia University Press, 2006. Pages 23-25.
- ^ a b Rubin, Barry M. Guide to Islamist Movements. M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2010. Page 362
- ^ Saverio Leopardi, Francesco. The Palestinian Left and Its Decline: Loyal Opposition. Palgrave Macmillan Singapore, 2020. Page 112.