The al-Quds (Jerusalem) Brigades are the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The al-Quds Brigades were previously known as the Sayf al-Islam Brigades and then al-Qassam. Unlike some terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, the PIJ does not maintain both an armed organization and a separate network for social and political services. Therefore, there is not a significant difference between the al-Quds Brigades and PIJ as a whole.<br /><p> According to an al-Quds Brigades commander, the military wing of PIJ has regional staff commands. Every member of the staff command is responsible for a cell that operates within the command's region and is at the head of a pyramid in that cell.  The staff commanders monitor and carry out operations based on political decisions made by the PIJ leadership.  All coordination among the cells takes place through the staff command. <br /><p>The al-Quds Brigades' umbrella organization, PIJ, is a violent offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist religious movement that originated in Egypt and seeks broad social, moral, and political reforms based upon Islam.  The PIJ is one faction within a loosely organized, highly secretive group of Islamic Jihad movements that span the Middle East. <br /><p>The PIJ was founded in the late 1970s by a group of radical Palestinian activists living in Egypt led by Fathi Shaqaqi and Sheikh Abd al-Aziz Awda. Shaqaqi and Awda believed that the Muslim Brotherhood movement had become too moderate and had abandoned the Palestinian cause. PIJ believes that the annihilation of Israel and liberation of all of Palestine are prerequisites for recreating a pan-Islamic empire. PIJ stresses that the Arab-Israeli conflict is not a national dispute over territory but rather a fundamentally religious conflict. The group rejects any political arrangements or diplomatic activity to solve the conflict. PIJ believes that jihadist violence will inspire Palestinians to action and lead to the eventual destruction of Israel.<br />