ABSTRACT
The paramilitary elements of Hamas have played a major role in violent fundamentalist subversion and radical terrorist operations against both Israelis and Arabs. Despite the progress in the peace process, it is possible that the peace negotiations will fail, and that Israelis and the Palestinians will become locked in a new political and military struggle for power. Some Palestinian factions within the PLO, and most factions outside the PLO, oppose the peace process. There are two Palestinian organizations that are particularly active in attacks on Israelis and pro-peace Palestinians and whose actions constitute a continuing threat to the peace process. Islamic Jihad intensified the tone of its anti-Israeli statements after the murder of Islamic Jihad activist Hani Abed in Gaza on February 11, 1994. The Palestinian Authority must deal with extremely difficult security problems where the risk of terrorist attacks and low intensity fighting between Palestinians—of a kind that already took place during the Intifada—is very real.
