Religious Radicalism and Politics in the Middle East

The editors of this book seek to explain to the reader the complex reasonsfor the undeniable phenomenon of religious radicalism in the contemporaryMiddle East. According to Sivan, the starting point of such an undertakingis the recognition that religious radicalism encompasses both thought andaction and that it entails the "rejection" of all other nonindigenous valuesand cultures. Faced with the challenges of modernity, the religious radicals'response has been "excessive or "extremist" (terms which are usedinterchangeably throughout the book with "radical").The editors have employed a comparative method, a six other (alsoIsraeli) scholars were asked to join them in studying specific Islamic andJewish movements which featured some form of radicalism. They chose thesetwo religion because, in their opinion, they both share a basic affinity (i.e.,the desire to shape human behavior) and, less convincingly, because theywanted to preserve the 'unity of space," meaning the Middle East. One shouldnot forget, however, that there are al o radical Christian group in the area.The major Islamic groups studied are the pro-Iranian Gaza-based Jihad theShi'i opposition in Iraq and Iranian pilgrims, whom they call "Khomeini'Me enger ." The Jewish groups studied are Gush Emunim, Neturei Karta,and the late Meir Kahane's Kach party.While the editors acknowledge the difficulty of proposing a comparativeframework for the analysis of religious extremism, they do suggest someoutlines. The main thesis is that the esential impulse shared by all movementsdescribed here might be termed, following aid A. Arjomand, 'revolutionarytraditionalism'; that is, a political radicalism born out of a religious tradition,which transcends that tradition in an attempt to preserve its authenticity inthe face of contemporary challenges." Every extremist movement has reviveda "myth' from its tradition which ha then served as a guiding principl forits struggle of preservation against the forces of modernity. For example,the attitude of the Neturei Karta and the Gush Emunim toward the stateof Israel come from their interpretation of the tradition concerning redemption ...