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Radical Islam in Egypt and Jordan

Nachman Tal
Dr. Tal was a senior official of Israel’s General Security Service (GSS), head of the GSS Arab section and GSS commander of the Gaza Strip and Sinai district. He was a member of the Israeli delegation to the 1991 Madrid Conference, and a member of the Israeli delegation to the peace talks with the Jordanians, which led to the peace agreement that was signed in October 1994. He is currently a researcher at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies and teaches in the security studies program Tel Aviv University.

	Based on extensive research and discussions with Islamic activists and statesmen and academics in Egypt, Jordan and Israel
	Documents the rise of Islamic fundamentalism as a social and political force, and its appeal to the Arab Muslim demography
	Examines the role of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and Hamas
	Reveals how Egypt and Jordan have fought back against Islamic radicalism

“Nachman Tal has written a unique book. It elucidates the variety of streams of radical Islam and the modus operandi of Egypt and Jordan in coping with them. Based on his intimate knowledge of the field, Tal’s work is an indispensable source for understanding the relations between the ideology and the strategy of these radical streams.” Dr Matti Steinberg, former advisor to the head of Israel’s General Security Service

“Nachman Tal’s book presents an extensive review of the rise of violent and non-Islamic groups in Egypt and Jordan. Based on original research and the author’s personal interviews with leading figures in the field, the book is a most impressive collection of information and records, covering both the radical groups themselves and the regimes’ methods of confronting the Islamic threat.” Prof. Shaul Mishal (Department of Political Science, Tel Aviv University), co-author of Investment in Peace: The Politics of Economic Cooperation Between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians, writing in Ha’aretz

The rise of the Islamic fundamentalist movement as a social and political force is the most important development in the modern Arab world. Beginning in the late 1970s, radical Islam directly affected Egypt and Jordan, neighbors and co-signatories of peace treaties with Israel. The radical Islamic movement in both these countries assumed two forms – non-violent, represented mainly by the Muslim Brotherhood, and violent, represented by various terrorist groups. Both groups shared the objective of replacing the existing regimes with Islamic theocracies.

Egypt and Jordan responded firmly to the growth of radical Islam, quashing terrorist activity. Successive Egyptian regimes attempted unsuccessfully to arrive at a compromise for coexistence with the Muslim Brotherhood, and resorted to firm countermeasures to strip the movement of its social and political power. In Jordan, where the Muslim Brotherhood enjoyed legal status, the regime kept a strict hold on the movement so that its influence would not exceed government-imposed limits.

By the end of the 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups no longer posed an existential threat to the Egyptian and Jordanian regimes, since there was little chance of their seizing the government in the foreseeable future. Although they might succeed in toppling a head of state, it is unlikely that they would be able to establish an Islamic regime. At the same time, both regimes acknowledged that it was beyond their power to eradicate Islamic radicalism, and recognized that they would have to face its challenge for many years to come.

Published in association with the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies

	List of Contents to follow

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