Hamas
Hamas (Arabic: حركة حماس "zeal") is an Islamist political and militant organisation in Gaza and the West Bank. The group is regarded as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the EU, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan and Jordan. The name Hamas is an acronym of Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya (Islamic Resistance Movement). Hamas combines Palestinian nationalism with Islamic 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."[1] 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."
Hamas was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's local political arm in December 1987, following the outbreak of the first intifada. Hamas published its official charter in 1988. From the 1990s it achieved notoriety for its use of the tactic of suicide bombing, principally against civilian targets in Israel. Hamas members started carrying out terrorist attacks starting in the late '80s, at first in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The first Hamas suicide bombing took place on April 26 1993, when Saher al-tamam attacked two Israeli buses in front of a coffee shop in Mehola, killing and injuring several Israelis. It is believed to have killed more than 500 people in more than 350 separate terrorist attacks since then.
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Opinion of Fatah
It also set itself in opposition to the secular Fatah movement. In the 2006 elections to the Palestinian Authority legislature Hamas gained a majority of seats; its government was dissolved in June 1997 by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas following the military takeover by Hamas of the Gaza Strip after several days of fighting between Hamas and Fatah.
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
The military wing of Hamas is called the "Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades" in memory of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, killed by the British in 1935 near Haifa. The leader of the militant wing is Muhamad Deif.[2]
Social programs
Hamas conducts numerous social welfare actions, known as Dawa, including relief and education programs, school funding, soup kitchens, and sports leagues. These programs are viewed variously as part of a sincere social development agenda, as propaganda and recruitment exercises, or both. In December 2001, the Bush administration seized the assets of the Holy Land Foundation, the largest Muslim charity in the United States, on suspicions it was funding Hamas.[3]
Popularity
Hamas is still popular amount the palestinian people, but it is not as popular as it was at one point in time. There total unwillingness to negotiate with the nation of Israel has weaked Hamas's support. The people are starting to get weary of the violence there.[4]
In January of 2006 the political wing of Hamas won many seats in the Palestinian elections.[5]
References
- ↑ Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement YNet Accessed July 18 2007
- ↑ http://www.alqassam.ps/english/?action=aboutus
- ↑ ibid.
- ↑ http://www.cfr.org/publication/8968/#12
- ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/02/mil-060218-voa05.htm
