The analysis is very much of its time, but is still relevant to those trying to understand the complexities of Palestinian factionalism. It offers a relatively incisive investigation of the motives and interests of different political groups within the Occupied Territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: PLO factions and Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Its assessment is that the shadow state organisations established under the occupation vie for authority and in the process undermine the development of civil society and the prospects for democracy even under a sovereign state.

This book was published in East Jerusalem in 1994 by Panorama - The Palestinian Center for the Dissemination of Alternative Information. Panorama has since moved its main operation to Ramallah on the West Bank.