http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm
Introduction
In 1987, the Arabs living in the territories occupied by Israeli in the
6-Day war began a series of riots and violent confrontations now known as
the First Intifada
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Intifada.htm> , a
movement quite independent from PLO leadership. Soon after, Islamic
militants founded the Hamas movement.
The Hamas was formed from the Mujama movement, which had been a political
party with no military ambitions that was given some encouragement by Israel
earlier in the decade, as a means of countering the influence of the PLO,
and perhaps because the opposition of the Mujama to an international
conference that would adjudicate the problem of Palestine, coincided with
the policies of the Begin and Shamir governments.
Hamas name
Hamas is an acronym of Harakat al Mawqawama al Islamiyya meaning "Islamic
Resistance Movement." The word Hamas also means "zeal." The H in Hamas is an
Arabic 'Het and it is sounded as a pharyngeal fricative, a sound made deep
in the throat like the 'Het in "Shalom 'Haver" made famous by President Bill
Clinton. The "a"s in Hamas are pronounced approximately like the "a" in
"cat." In Hebrew, the a's are pronounced as "ah."
Hamas capsule history
The Hamas has a 'military' wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Izz_ad-Din_al-Qassam_Bri
gades.htm> , that engages in terrorist acts and a 'civilian' wing that
supposedly confines itself to education and 'good works.' Hamas perpetrated
numerous suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks, at first in order to
sabotage the Oslo Accords
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/DOP.htm> and peace
process, and then as part of the Second Intifada
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Second_Intifada.htm> .
Israel successively assassinated its leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Sheikh
Ahmed Rantissi, forcing the leadership underground. However, in January of
2006, candidates representing the Hamas swept to victory in Palestinian
elections, overcoming the traditional leadership of the Fateh and PLO. In
June of 2006, Hamas affiliates captured an Israeli soldier by tunneling
across the border between Gaza
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Gaza.htm> and Israel In
February of 2007, Hamas, Fateh and other factions entered a unity government
in a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. However, in practice, Hamas
ruled Gaza <http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Gaza.htm> on
its own. It formed the Executive Force over the protests of the Fatah and
Palestinian Authority
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Palestinian_Authority.ht
m> . The Executive force was a combination internal police force, political
force to be used against Hamas opponents and terrorist group. In June of
2007, Hamas ousted Fatah forces from Gaza in a bloody coup, throwing Fatah
members off the roofs of buildings after shooting them in the knees. At
least one Fatah member was sliced into steaks that were sent to his family.
Since Gaza <http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Gaza.htm>
had been totally evacuated by Israel in the unilateral disengagement of
2005, Hamas currently (2009) rules Gaza
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Gaza.htm> as a de facto
state government. It has used Gaza
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Gaza.htm> as a base for
launching rocket attacks against Israel. On June 19, 2008, Israel and Hamas
concluded a "lull" or Tahdiya agreement that was brokered by Egypt. Hamas,
but not Israel, declared that this truce was for a period of six months.
Rocket fire from Gaza
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Gaza.htm> was reduced
but not stopped. Hamas greatly stepped up smuggling of arms through tunnels
beneath the Egyptian controlled Rafah crossing. Hamas dismissed the
international monitors that were to have controlled the Rafah crossing, and
then declared that Gaza
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Gaza.htm> is "under
siege." Israel retaliated for rocket fire by closing the Israeli crossings
periodically. On December 18, 2008, Hamas declared that they would not renew
the truce. Thereafter, Hamas and associated organizations directed a rain of
rocket and mortar fire at Israeli towns and cities, reaching as far as 45 KM
away with Grad rockets that had been smuggled in during the lull period. On
December 26, 2008, Israel launched operation Cast Lead, attacking the Hamas
in Gaza at first by air and later in a limited ground invasion.
Click here for details of Hamas history
<http://www.mideastweb.org/hamashistory.htm> .
Hamas Principles
The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter, given
in full below. Following are highlights.
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate
it, just as it obliterated others before it." (The Martyr, Imam Hassan
al-Banna, of blessed memory).
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an
Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day.
It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it,
should not be given up. "
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.
Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time
and vain endeavors."
"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the
Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will
aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the
"Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best
proof of what we are saying."
The charter is a rather classical Islamist
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Islamism.htm> document,
applied to the local issues. It declares that Jihad
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Jihad.htm> (in the
sense of armed battle) is the only solution. It cites the Protocols of the
Elders of Zion
<http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion.htm> , a
ludicrous anti-Semitic forgery.
The "Zionists" and the freemasons and others are blamed for what Hamas and
radical Islamists see as the major calamities of the world, especially the
French Revolution.
One of the most ominous aspects of the Charter however, is this
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Hadith.htm> Hadith:
Moreover, if the links have been distant from each other and if obstacles,
placed by those who are the lackeys of Zionism in the way of the fighters
obstructed the continuation of the struggle, the Islamic Resistance Movement
aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that
should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews
(killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The
stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me,
come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is
one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
The implication is clear: Allah promised that the Jews will be murdered, and
the Hamas "aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long
that should take."
Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood
Some observers deny the relation between the Hamas and the Muslim
Brotherhood
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Muslim_Brotherhood.htm>
. However, the Charter states:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in
Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which
constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is
characterised by its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its
complete embrace of all Islamic concepts of all aspects of life, culture,
creed, politics, economics, education, society, justice and judgement, the
spreading of Islam, education, art, information, science of the occult and
conversion to Islam.
Moreover, the Charter quotes Hassan Al-Banna
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Hassan_al-Banna.htm> , a
Nazi sympathizer who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. There is no
doubt that the Hamas views itself as a part of the Muslim Brotherhood and an
ideological heir of al Banna. The Muslim Brotherhood spawned a number of
radical Islamist
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Islamism.htm> movements
including Al-Qaeda
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Al-Qaeda.htm> .
Current Hamas Positions
Some analysts insist that the Hamas is becoming more pragmatic in its
ideology following assumption of a political role. The evidence for this is
view is conflicting, and it is beclouded by the practice of dissemblance
that was copied from Al-Banna
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Hassan_al-Banna.htm>
and Sayyed Qutb
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/sayyid_qutb.htm> .
Recent statements by leaders include the following:
* Imam <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imam> Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas
said in his sermon at the Katib Wilayat mosque in Gaza that "Jews are a
people who cannot be trusted. They have been traitors to all agreements. Go
back to history. Their fate is their vanishing."
<http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/31/mideast/hamas.php> Ref IHT 1 April
08
* Sheik Yunus al-Astal, a Hamas legislator and imam, in a column in
the weekly newspaper Al Risalah in 2008 discussed a Koranic verse suggesting
that "suffering by fire is the Jews' destiny in this world and the next."
Astal concluded "Therefore we are sure that the Holocaust is still to come
upon the Jews. <http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/31/mideast/hamas.php>
Ref IHT 1 April 08
* "We will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity" stated Hamas
leader Fathi Hammad in Gaza on Friday January 2nd 2009 -
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7808257.stm> ref -- BBC 2
January 09
* In a sermon aired on Hamas' Al-Aqsa television, cleric Yunis Al
Astal stated, "Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader
capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the
brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening
of Islam.
"I believe that our children, or our grandchildren, will inherit our jihad
and our sacrifices, and, Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will
come from among them"
He maintained that Rome would become, ""an advanced post for the Islamic
conquests, which will spread though Europe in its entirety, and then will
turn to the two Americas, even Eastern Europe."
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351242,00.html> Ref- Fox 14 Apr. 2008
Other statements are more moderate in tone, but Hamas has repeatedly refused
international community demands to recognize the right of Israel to exist,
abrogate its charter and abide by the previous commitments of the
Palestinian Authority
<http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/Palestinian_Authority.ht
m>
Ami Isseroff
Updated Jan 11, 2009
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The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)
18 August 1988
In The Name Of The Most Merciful Allah
"Ye are the best nation that hath been raised up unto
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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