The Islamic Movement in Israel:New Reality as an Underground Organization

On November 15,2015,the Israeli Defense Minister,Moshe(Boogi)Ya’alon,declared the Islamic Movement,headed by Sheikh Ra’ed Salah Mahajna,an illegal organization.This step came as a surprise as the Islamic Movement had been active since 1996 despite the fact that its leaders were arrested from time-to-time.Up until 2015,the movement had never been declared illegal.This article compares and contrasts the organization’s activities both before and after it become illegal(1996-2017).

From Disintegration to Fragmentation:The Islamic Movement and the al-Inqadh Regime in Sudan

The Islamic Movement of Sudan established the first Islamist regime in the Sunni Islamic world by a military coup.By seising state power,the Islamic Movement tried to overhaul the political system of Sudan.However,what it brought to the politics of Sudan was far from what its leader Hasan al-Turabi envisioned.It was largely due to the failure of the Islamic Movement to institutionalise its control over state power,originating from its design to conceal the nature of the coup which prevented it from claiming the official leadership of the state.The military Islamists leading the coup continued to run the state publicly.The institutions of the Islamic Movement itself were weakened in the process,making it more difficult to lay the national politics on an institutional foundation.The division and conflicts among the Islamists could not be solved in an institutional framework,leading to the split of the Islamic Movement.The Islamists were further fragmented after the split,both within and without the regime,opening the gate for factional politics.

Turkish Islamic Movement after Conservatives in Power

The Attempted Coup on July 15,2016 was a result of the struggle within the Turkish Islamic movement.Turkish Islamic movement mobilizes in areas of both party politics and civil society.In the area of party politics,the Turkish Islamic movement is led by Islamic parties,like the Justice and Development Party(AKP);while,in the area of civil society,it was led by Fethullah Gülen and the Gülen Movement.This article focuses on the process of collaboration and subsequent confrontation between the AKP and Gülen Movement(GM).Analyzing the dynamics behind each groups’actions,how Islamic intellectuals strengthened their dominance through AKP and GM’s tactical alliance,and the groups’struggle for leadership of the Turkish Islamic movement,this article conceives that the collaboration between AKP and GM was based on their common interests to weaken Turkish secular elites;while their strife was caused by their divergence in strategies for propelling the Turkish Islamic movement,including different ideological construction,outcome expectations,and methods employed to accomplish their goals.

Behaviorist Fundamentalism Turns Radical:ETIM/TIP’s Islamic Fundamentalist Representations and Narratives

Many contemporary Islamic terrorist groups have been identified as forms of religious fundamentalism.Moreover,the narratives and representations constructed by many of these groups contain traces of religious fundamentalism.In this article,ETIM/TIP’s narratives and representations are examined as a case study.The group’s power discourses as they relate to religious fundamentalism are analyzed through examining the group’s rhetoric of its own origin,its current situation,and its reactions toward this situation.The power discourse of an unconventional“Orientalism”and the use of behaviorist logic are especially emphasized.Furthermore,the presence of behaviorism in religious fundamentalist narratives suggests the need for China to revise its official national counterterrorist discourse.Instead of continuing the current behaviorist rhetoric in the legal framework,this article suggests a deconstruction-ultimately,a discouragement-of religious behaviorism to prevent the radicalization of Muslims in the country.

Identity Contradictions in Islamic Awakening:Harmonising Intellectual Spheres of Identity

The Islamic awakening demonstrates the following essential contradictions.First,it calls for the authentic return to Arab-Islamic heritage,while deeming as heretical several traditional doctrines;second,it strives for Arab unity without recognising the needed concessions that should be given to unify non-Muslim Arabs;third,it is proud of the creativity of Islamic heritage in natural and philosophical fields while rejecting the indebtedness to Greek or Zoroastrian influences;fourth,it embraces the Abrahamic path in response to atheistic trends and calling for unity with Jewish and Christian monotheisms,without accepting the possibility of tracing the influence of these traditions on the Qur’an and without admitting the non-Abrahamic traditions such as Hinduism into the spiritual camp;and fifth,it admits the primacy of scientific knowledge,while disparaging its methodological presumptions seen in materialism.The articulation of critical views to resolve these contradictions in the Arab world present creative reformation attempts to harmonise intellectual spheres of identity。

China’s Emerging Role in the New Arab World

The Arab Spring has changed the political landscape in the Arab world.The spring which began as genuine grass-root movement designed to create more equitable social projects,was steered by Western powers and local Islamists in different directions with these powers heavily intervening to control and/or weaken Arab states.China has pursued a policy of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of Arab states,and letting the peoples decide their own future.China may have miscalculated when it allowed NATO to interfere in Libya.That intervention had catastrophic consequences for China and Libya.Consequently,China,in collaboration with Russia decided not to repeat the same experience in Syria especially since foreign intervention in this case will be even more catastrophic.China vetoed Security Council draft resolutions calling for regime change in Syria and insisted on letting the Syrians decide peacefully their future course of action.Further,China under the new leadership has suggested for the first time a four-point program to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict.The article argues that the Chinese-Russian approach to the Syrian crisis is bound to have long-term implications for the future of the Arab world.As the signs of the positive contributions of that approach are emerging,China should proceed to reinforce these contributions through a concerted approach to engage with the new regimes in the Arab world,strengthen the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,correct the imbalances of Sino-Arab trade,especially with the countries of the Arab Spring,focus on investing in these countries in labor-intensive industries,putting the four-point proposal on the agenda of ArabIsraeli negotiations,and,most importantly,deal with the question of the Israeli nuclear capabilities and the potential of Israel going to war against Iran,a scenario which will represent a major setback to the Chinese achievements in the region.

Reflections on A Persian Jewel:Damavand College,Tehran

This paper describes the author’s reflections on a personal and professional experience he had 35 years ago in Iran as President of Damavand College,Tehran,Iran from 1975-1978 to lead this young liberal arts college for Iranian women.The author decided to reflect on its mission(it had had a religious heritage),what he had hoped to accomplish,its possible role in the women’s movement and Islamic Reformist Movement,what had happened to its graduates,its teachers,and its friends and supporters.As he reflected on their achievements,he realized that their growth and advancement served as metaphors for his own personal and professional growth into an intercultural person.Because of that experience in Iran,he has dared subsequently to live in other countries and do research and teach in different cultures.He realized that Damavand,named for the highest mountain in Iran,was a symbol of reaching higher heights.Damavand College now had become a living symbol of what had developed as his research agenda in intercultural communication,leading him to years ago in Iran.He recently began his journey back in time.