They anticipated that Sadat’s death would lead to a massive popular uprising to overthrow the regime Although some riots broke out in upper Egypt, especially in the town of Asyut, a center of opposition, the regime under Hosni Mubarak maintained control, and the Islamist organizations were brutally repressed A long period of low-level warfare between government forces and Islamist rebels ensued After Islamist rebels killed a number of tourists at Deir elBahari in upper Egypt in 1997, many Egyptians who were heavily dependent on tourist revenues spoke out against the radicals However, because the government failed to provide much-needed housing and economic reforms and refused to open up the system to meaningful democratic participation, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements remained major political forces In Egypt the so-called new Islamists eschewed violence and argued that to combat extremism, social justice and educational reform were vital for the regeneration of Egyptian society The new Islamists demonstrated remarkable political and social flexibility and supported reforms in education, gradualism, and peaceful dialogue They included Yusuf alQaradawy; Kamal Abul Magd, a lawyer and former government official; and others New Islamists wanted Islamic states based on wassatteyya, or moderate Islamic tradition, without violence or terrorism sudan In the Sudan Hasan al-Turabi led the Islamist movement and was a major political force until he was removed from office by the military in the 1990s In Tunisia the Islamic Tendency Movement (ITM), led by Rashid al-Ghannouchi, who had been educated at the Sorbonne, actively opposed the well-entrenched regime of Habib Bourguiba in the 1980s In 1987 a number of ITM members were arrested and tried, but after Bourguiba was removed from office in a bloodless military coup led by General Zine al Abidine ben Ali, many of them were released or allowed to go into exile Although ben Ali’s regime was able to provide some economic stability, it too became increasingly authoritarian, and ben Ali tightened control over the Islamist parties in the 1990s Ghannouchi went into exile to Europe and renounced violence algeria and lebanon In Algeria the major Islamist party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), was led by Abbas Madani, a professor of psychology; Sheikh Ben Azzouz; and Ali Belhadj, a charismatic and popular preacher When Islamist movements 223 the FIS won the first round of free and democratic elections in 1991, the military regime of the National Liberation Front (FLN) cancelled the elections, precipitating a civil war that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths Many FIS leaders were jailed until 2003 Madani then seemed to drop out of politics, but Belhadj remained unrepentant As long as the Algerian government failed to solve the basic problems of jobs, housing, and education, Algerian youth—who made up a large percentage of the population—continued to be attracted to Islamist parties During the 1980s Hizbollah (Party of God), led by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, a leading Shi’i cleric, emerged as a major force among Shi’i Lebanese, the largest but most disaffected Lebanese sect Hizbollah actively fought against the continued Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, and when Israel finally withdrew from most of southern Lebanon in 2000, Hizbollah gained most of the credit Hizbollah then transformed itself into a major political force, and its members were elected to a number of seats in Parliament It also continued to attack Israeli forces in the disputed Lebanese territory of Shaaba Farms, which Israel argued was Syrian territory Hizbollah sometimes attacked within Israeli borders as well and was viewed by Israel and the United States as a terrorist organization In retaliation Israeli launched a major air, sea, and ground offensive into Lebanon in 2006 As in the 1982 Israeli war against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon, the 2006 attack not only inflicted heavy losses on Hizbollah but it also devastated the Lebanese infrastructure and caused many civilian deaths Many Lebanese and even secular Arabs were impressed by Hizbollah’s determined military defense against the Israeli attack, and the war actually led to an increase of support and recruits among many Lebanese and Muslims palestine Similarly Hamas, the major Palestinian Islamist organization, began in the late 1980s in the Gaza Strip as a reaction to the long Israeli occupation Hamas was led by Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, who was blind and confined to a wheelchair, and Dr Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, both of whom were killed by Israel Many Palestinians, who were overwhelmingly supportive of the secular PLO, hoped that the 1993 Oslo Accords would lead to a truly independent Palestinian state However, when the PLO-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) came to be perceived as increasingly