HAMAS- Islamic Resistance Movement

Abstract

Hamas is an organization which has its basis on the separate ideologies. The main focus of Hamas is on the rigidity of its obedience to the ideology. Hamas is based in the external relations who are used to reveal it as a logical actor. Hamas is full dependant on the financial aids from the external sources; therefore, Hamas performs its actions with the aim of ensuring that it's all profits and gains support the greatest amount of latent power. Hamas is in relationship with different entities including the Islamist, state actors and nationalists. In the years to come, HAMAS would preach Islam every opportunity they got. It was done via pamphlets, gatherings, before and after prayers, and if the opportunity arose, through violence. Not equipped to take on an entire nation with an advance arsenal of weapons, HAMAS relied on guerilla tactics. Moving into the new millennium, suicide bombing was added to their bag of tricks. This paper will begin by looking at the history of HAMAS in detail. In early 1987, a Palestinian uprising took place. It was the aftermath of a traffic accident by an Israeli driver which killed several Palestinians. The uprising, though originating from the traffic incident, went on to focus on Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza.

Hamas has been founded in 1987, and since that time it has been considered to be the centre stage of Palestinian Politics. The organization has initially focused on the rising of militant Islamism in the Palestinian terrorise. It has also focused on the use of unconventional tactics and strategies including the charitable efforts and suicide missions. These dichotomous strategies earned Hamas a distinct spot in the Palestinian Israeli Conflict. Because of this Hamas quickly found its support base and evolved to respond to the events occurring around it.

This research paper provides the description of Hamas as an organization by conducting an analysis on the history of this organization. The paper also describes the roots of Hamas as a radical group of Egyptian Ikhwan. The organization has its focus on the ideologies, belief's in sharia and the practices of da'wa. Thus, these features and the dieologies will be presented in this paper. After the complete analysis, a final conclusion regarding the ideologies and practices of Hamas are presented in this paper. This paper is a brief description of the ways through which this violent organization has achieved success in a very short span of time and has won the elections in 2006.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction5

Literature Review9

Historical and Political Background of Hamas9

The Formation of Hamas11

Hamas and the Islamists13

Hamas and Islamic Jihad13

Hamas and the Nationalists14

Palestinian Municipal Elections of 2004-200515

The Development of Social Movement Theory15

Methodology16

Findings and Discussion17

Conclusion19

HAMAS- Islamic Resistance Movement

Introduction

There have been volumes written about the subject of Hamas, most of which can be divided into two categories: historical and political. The historical literature focuses on the roots of Hamas, the origin of the ideology, and the practices employed. The trend within this literature is to emphasize ...