Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas Harakat-al-muqawama al-Islamiyya, k

Harakat-al-muqawama al-Islamiyya, known by the acronym Hamas, is an Islamic resistance movement whose roots can be traced back to the 1940's as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization founded in the 1920s in Egypt, which was renewed and strengthened in the Arab world, particularly in Jordan, Egypt, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the 1960s and 1970s , . Hamas was officially founded in 1978 after the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, when the Muslim Brotherhood decided it was time to add a military arm to their organization. Hamas is led by its founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, according to five principle objectives: a commitment to Islam as a way of life; the destruction of the Zionist entity as the only solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict; creation of a Palestinian Arab state to replace Israel because Israel is located on sacred Islamic land; the synthesis of pan-Islamic and religious ideals with Palestinian nationalism; and violent opposition to the Palestinian-Israeli peace process .

The Islamic Covenant, the ideological doctrine of Hamas, was published in 1988, and it challenges not only Israel, but also the PLO, claiming that Hamas is the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. It grew principally through its influence in the Gaza Strip, with its large number of refugees, massive socio-economic problems for those in the refugee camps, and the low nationalist elements to be found there

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ction coalition at its own conference in Tehran, which included the Popular and Democratic Fronts. Following the Oslo Accords, Sheikh Yassin wrote a letter from imprisonment in Israel offering the possibility of a ten- or twenty-year cease-fire if Israel would withdraw from the occupied territories . He also suggested that members of hamas participate in the electoral process for establishing an autonomous Palestinian Council. However, the murder by an Israeli settler of 35 Palestinians and the wounding of another 200 while they were praying in a mosque in Hebron prompted Hamas to seek revenge against Israeli citizens, rather than the military, as had been their targets. Despite this, Sheikh Yassin still urged Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and dismantle their settlements to bring about a peaceful end to the conflict. In 1994, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was established, which was strongly opposed by Hamas, and Hamas now represents an alternative to the PA. There were sporadic clashes between the PA and Hamas, as Arafat was pressured to rein in Hamas, notably an incident at a Palestinian mosque in which Palestinian police killed 14 and injured 270, and the blowing up of a Hamas bomb factory in Gaz

Category: Foreign - I