Popular Resistance Committees (PRC); Lijan al-Muqawama al-Sha'biyah.
Origins
The PRCs were created by Jamal Abu Samhadana at the outset of the second intifada in October 2000 in the Gaza Strip. From the beginning, the PRCs have consisted primarily of “disenchanted” former members of Fatah and Hamas. Most notable among them is the PRCs’ founder, Samhadana who left his post as a Palestinian Authority (PA) security officer and Fatah to form the PRCs with the express purpose “to conduct a military campaign unencumbered by political considerations.”
Location / Main area of operation
The PRCs are almost exclusively located in Gaza, with only a minimal presence in the West Bank. When the group maintained a presence on the Gaza strip, they routinely carried out armed attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers and now conduct rocket launching operations into Israel. Additionally, the PRCs participated with Hamas’s Qassem Brigades in the preventive ouster of Fatah forces from Gaza in June 2007.
Objectives
The PRCs’ main goal is to overcome Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem through armed struggle. The organization promote this objective through the mobilisation of Palestinians and cooperation with other armed groups. The PRCs have no social or other political agenda, but commitment to Islamic principles is an important mobilising discourse.
Number of Members
Recent estimates by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) put PRCs numbers at approximately 500, divided into south, central and northern branches in Gaza. This number appears to take into account the incorporation of 900 PRCs’ cadres in 2006 into the Executive Force, a Palestinian security service created by the Hamas-led government after winning the 2006 legislative elections.
The PRCs’ personnel is made of former Fatah officials and Hamas members, Palestinian Security Service (PSS) recruits, as well as PIJ, DFLP, and PFLP members; many also originate from the Gaza refugee camps. Additionally, many members of the PRCs have forged close, cross-factional relations since their activism during the first intifada.
Type : Transnational
The PRCs are a transnational NSAG as they carry out their armed operations in Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.
Conflict Status : Active
The PRCs have not felt bound by tahdi’a [calm] agreements struck between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in March 2005; the organization was, in fact, not invited to the Cairo meetings where the 2005 tahdi’a was negotiated. The PRCs remain active in rocket launching mission into Israel and using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the point that they have been, together with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the principal source of armed attacks through the Gaza-Israeli border since the conclusion of the March 2005 tahdi’a.
The PRCs’ use of IEDs became more notable after the destruction of three Israeli Merkava tanks through these means in 2003. The Committees have also been accused of perpetrating the October 2003 attack on a US diplomatic convoy in Gaza, which they first claimed responsibility for and then denied, and which was also denied by PSS. Lastly, they have been involved in intra-Palestinian cross-factional violence and assassinations, reflecting tensions within Fatah and between Fatah and Hamas.
Structure of the organization
The PRCs have a military wing called the Nasser Salah ad-Din Brigades (’Alwiyat an-Nasir Salah ad-Din). This armed wing has northern, central, and southern Gaza branches but is structured in small cells without central command.
Leadership
The founder of the PRCs, a former PA security officer and Fatah activist, Jamal Abu Samhadana, was killed in an Israeli air strike on 8 June 2006; his successor, Abu Yussuf al-Qoqa, was also killed shortly thereafter. After the initial assassination of Samhadana, the leader of the Nassar Salah ad-Din Brigades, Mumtaz Doghmoush, created a new armed group, the Army of Islam. As a result of these assassinations and fractionalizations, the current leadership of the PRCs is unknown.
External aid/Third party involvement
The PRCs receive funding from Hizbullah and Iran, as well as other Palestinian factions; Hamas has, in particular, been known to provide financial aid to the PRCs. According to an Israeli source, Abu Yussuf al-Qoca explicitly stated in an interview that the PRCs received aid from Hamas. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli security officials also have named Hamas for giving funding, arms, training, and operational instructions to the PRCs; however, authoritative sources maintain that there is no conclusive evidence supporting such allegations. Israeli officials also name the Lebanese Hizbullah movement for giving funds to the PRCs in order to launch rockets against Israel.
External effects of the NSAG's armed activities
No information is available on this matter.
Funding
Sources claim that the PRCs receive most of the financial aid through patronage, control of smuggling networks, and other criminal activities in Gaza. In regards to the claims of patronage, and, as mentioned previously, reports state that the PRCs receive funding from Hizbullah and Iran, as well as from other Palestinian factions.
Relationship with the international community
The PRCs are, as of March 2008, not listed as a terrorist organization either by the European Union or the United States.
Books
• Baud, Jacques (2003), Encyclopédie des terrorismes et violences politiques (Paris: Lavauzelle).
Articles and Chapters
• Najib, Mohammad and Roland Friedrich (2007), “Non-Statutory Armed Groups and Security Sector Governance," in Roland Friedrich and Arnold Luethold (eds.), Entry Points to Palestinian Security Sector Reform 103 (Geneva: DCAF).
• Usher, Graham, “Facing Defeat: The Intifada Two Years On," 32.2 Journal of Palestine Studies (2003), at 21-40.
Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations
• EU Council, Common Position 2006/380/CFSP of 29 May 2006, Official Journal of the European Communities L 144/25, 31.5.2006.
Governmental reports
• Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) Terrorist Organization in 2006, 15 Mars 2007, available at link.
• U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Fact Sheet Office of Counterterrorism, Washington, DC, 11 October 2005, available at link.
Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations
• International Crisis Group (2006), Palestinians, Israel, and the Quartet: Pulling Back from the Brink, Middle East Report N°54, 13 June (Jerusalem/Amman/Brussels: International Crisis Group), available at link.
• International Crisis Group, After Mecca: Engaging Hamas, Middle East Report N°62, 28 February 2007, available at link
• International Crisis Group (2007), After Gaza, Middle East Report N°68, 2 August (Amman/Jerusalem/ Gaza/Brussels: International Crisis Group), available at link.
• The Democratic Control of Armed Force (DCAF) and the Graduate Institute for Development Studies (2006), Government Change and Security Sector Governance: Palestinian Public Perceptions, available at link
Press Information (in chronological order)
• “Israel closes main Gaza road after rocket attack," The Washington Post, 4 July 2003.
• “Profile: Popular Resistance Committees," BBC News, 7 September 2005, available at link.
• “Militants kill Arafat’s cousin after Gaza shootout," The Independent, 8 September 2005.
• “Fatah is no better than Hamas," The Jerusalem Post, 5 January 2006, available at link.
• “Hamas leader stress political unity, Palestinian rights at Gaza celebration," Palestinian Information Center in BBC Monitoring International Reports, 28 January 2006.
• “Abbas and Hamas Clash Over Militant in Security Post," The New York Times, 22 April 2006.
• “Palestinian president vetoes Hamas police: Wanted militant named to lead new force Israeli general warns of plan to invade Gaza Strip," The Guardian, 22 April 2006.
• “Shin Bet: Hamas tied to Karni terror bit. Despite hudna the movement never ceased its terror activity against Israel," The Jerusalem Post, 1 May 2006.
• “Palestinian militant faction leader killed in Israeli air strike," Associated Press, 8 June 2006.
• “Airstrike kills Hamas chief," The Times, 9 June, 2006.
• “Israel blames Hamas for deadly attacks," Associated Press, 25 June 2006.
• “Asheri shot in head Sunday immediately after abduction," The Jerusalem Post, 27 June 2006, available at link.
• “PRC forms "abduction unit"," Israel News, 27 June 2006, available at link.
• “Israel invades Gaza in search for soldier," The Irish Times, 29 June 2006.
• “IDF arrests top militant in West Bank; Qassam hits Ashkelon," Haaretz, 25 December 2006, available at link.
• “Hizbullah paying terrorists for each Kassam attack. Amount based on number killed and wounded," The Jerusalem Post, 28 December 2006.
• “Palestinian militants claim rocket attacks against Israel," Ma’an News Agency in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 26 April 2007.
• “Gaza: Militants want cleric freed for BBC reporter," The Guardian, 10 May 2007.
• “Islamist group don al-Qaeda’s clothes," The Times, 2 June 2007.
• “PA paying Schalit captors' families," The Jerusalem Post, 10 June 2007, available at link.
• “Palestinian militant group takes control of Gaza-Egypt border," Mena News Agency, 13 June 2007.
• “Hamas takes control on Gaza-Egypt border area," Xinhua, 14 June 2007, available at link.
• “Shooting attack at Israel-Gaza crossing, one Palestinian killed," Associated Press, 18 June 2007.
• “BBC reporter is opportunity for Hamas to “subdue” Gaza clan," Elaph Website in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 22 June 2007.
Interviews
Internet resources
• Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, The Popular Resistance Committees: Hamas' New Partners?, available at link.
• National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, Popular Resistance Committees, available at link
• The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Strong indications that the Popular Resistance Committees have become a kind of subcontractor for Hamas, enabling it to encourage attacks against Israel and its internal Palestinian rivals without leaving fingerprints, available at link.
Statements of the armed group
• Available in Arabic: Al Bilaghat al-Askaria (Military Communication), available at link.
Agreements involving armed groups