Hamas: Unwritten ChaptersC. Hurst & Company, 2009 - 371 pages Hamas won an overwhelming electoral victory in January 2006, overturning many assumptions regionally and globally. Branded as terrorist by Israel and the West, it is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist organization, formed fifteen years ago at the beginning of the first intifada. Its short-term objective is to drive Israeli forces from the West Bank and Gaza, an aim it hopes to realize through attacks on Israeli troops and settlers in the Occupied Territories and - more controversially - civilians. It also has the long-term aim of establishing an Islamic state on all of historic Palestine. In the post-Oslo world, Hamas gained power and influence as Israel steadily destroyed the power structure of the avowedly secular Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority. A grass-roots organization that commands wide respect among Palestinians for its incorruptibility, Hamas is divided into two main sections, one responsible for establishing schools, hospitals and religious institutions, the other for military action and terror attacks carried out by its armed underground wing the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades. This book charts the origins of Hamas among the Muslim Brotherhood, details the influence of its exiled leadership in Syria and elsewhere, and sets out its internal structure and political objectives. This new edition includes an additional chapter covering events since the book's original publication in November 2006. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Beginnings | 10 |
From Dawah to Jihad | 35 |
Copyright | |
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Abd al-Aziz Abdullah agreement al-Battikhi al-Najjar al-Qassam al-Rishiq Allah Amman arrested assassination attacks believed Cairo campaign Charter Damascus detained detention Egypt Egyptian elections Fatah Fatah and Hamas force Gaza Strip Hamas leaders Hamas leadership Hamas officials Hamas Political Bureau Hamas's Haniyah hudna Ibrahim Ghosheh Ikhwan initiative insisted interview intifada Islamic Jihad Islamists Israel Israeli Israeli occupation issue Jerusalem Jewish Jews Jordan Jordanian Jordanian authorities Jordanian Ikhwan Khalid Mish'al killing King Hussein Kuwait land Lebanon legislative liberation Mahmud Abbas martyrdom operations Mecca meeting military mosques Mossad movement Muhammad Nazzal Musa Abu Marzuq Muslim national unity government negotiations organization Oslo Palestine Palestinian Authority Palestinian factions Palestinian Ikhwan President Prime Minister prison Qatar Qur'an refugees release reported resistance response senior Sheikh Ahmad Yassin Sheikh Yassin struggle suicide bomb tion umma West Bank Yasir Arafat Zionist