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[[Image:Hamas.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Hamas]]

'''Hamas''' ([[Arabic]]: '''حركة حماس''' "zeal") is a radical [[Islamic]] political and militant organization in [[Gaza]] and the [[West Bank]]. The group is regarded as a [[terrorist]] organization by the [[United States]], the [[EU]], [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[Israel]], [[Japan]], [[Jordan]] and moderate Islamic leader [[Faisal Abdul Rauf]]. The name Hamas is an acronym of ''Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya'' (Islamic Resistance Movement). Hamas combines Palestinian nationalism with [[Islam]]ic fundamentalism, and "regards the territory of the present-day State of Israel — as well as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — as an inalienable Islamic ''waqf'' or religious bequest, which can never be surrendered to non-Muslims."<ref>''Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement'' [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3377113,00.html YNet] Accessed July 18 2007</ref> Its charter commits the group to the destruction of Israel, the replacement of the Palestinian Authority with an Islamist state on the West Bank and Gaza, and to raising "the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine."

== Name ==