History and Membership at HAMAS - Essay Example

Hamas Hamas HAMAS, an acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement, emerged as one of the fiercest embodiments of Political Islam. An undertaking to Political Islam was initiated after the severe defeat of Arab countries at the hand of Israeli forces in 1967 which led to the subsequent end of pan-Arabism and the beginning of Islamic revival. History and membership The grassroots of Islamic Revival can be traced back to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) that emerged in Egypt in 1928 under its leader Hassan-al-Banna. Initially, its intentions were not political but religious, and the organization developed many religious, educational, and welfare institutions to counter the effects of Westernization and Secularization. This network sustained the MB during the death of Hassan-al Banna. The succeeding leaders of MB used a proactive approach to overthrow secular governments and revive Islam. Despite the tough suppression, the MB became a classless movement that extended beyond Egypt and found its way to Palestine. The first MB in Palestine was formed in 1946 and participated in the Arab-Israeli war in 1948. In 1952 a faction of the MB was formed-The Palestinian Islamist Party. Its radical rather than reformist approach did not gather mass appeal and after its leadership was exiled the party became insignificant. The foundations of Hamas originated in the Islamic Centre which was established in 1973 in the Gaza Strip. It took over mosques and zakat committees; it established a welfare system and founded medical, religious, and health facilities and gained mass popularity (Knudsen 2004). In December 1987 a road accident between an Israeli truck and the automobiles carrying Palestinian laborers caused an extensive uprising-the first intifada. The Islamic resistance was slow to react because until then the Islamic Centre, particularly its leader Sheikh Yasin, was not ready to declare Jihad. Therefore, the Centre agreed to fashion a second organization, Hamas, which would participate in the armed resistance. If Hamas succeeded, the Islamic Centre would declare the organization as their own. In January 1988 Hamas initiated armed retaliation; in August 1988 the Hamas charter was released which states the affiliations, objectives, social responsibility and universality of the organization. The main leadership then shifted to Amman, so it controlled the finances and the military division. In 1992 Hamas’s intelligence wing integrated into the military wing (Mishal & Sela, 2000) The militant wing of Hamas used violence against Israeli civilians for retribution following the Hebron massacre in 1994. Upon the release of Sheikh Yasin (arrested in 1989) Hamas’s standing against the PA was confirmed in1997 (US Department of State, 2012). Originally there was a lot of strain between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Hamas as the former tried to envelop the latter. However, Hamas declined this offer and stood as a political alternative instead. Later it criticized the Madrid Procession and Oslo Accords for their failure to bring about the retreat of the Israeli forces from the West Bank By 1990 Islamic jihad resurfaced against the Oslo Accords and killed Israeli soldiers and civilians. In 1994 the Hebron Massacre led to the death of 29 Palestinians in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. This was a turning point for Hamas since it employed the use of suicide bombs which killed 33 Israelis in a year, and the Israeli authorities found that despite arrests of hundreds of Palestinians it was unable to regulate the situation. September 2000 marked the second intifada which began after 7 Palestinians died and 250 were injured following Ariel Sharon’s trip to the Al-Aqsa Mosque surrounded by 1000 Israeli soldiers. Throughout outbreaks of aggression against Palestinians, Hamas has remained the retaliator on behalf of Palestinians and the aboriginal organization committed to liberate Mandatory Palestine (Zanotti, 2010). Goals and Objectives The Hamas Charter issued in August 1988 is the official document which explains the objectives of the organization. Article 1 of the charter states that Hamas is an Islamic Resistance Movement, and it takes its judgments, ideas, and philosophies from Islam. Article 6 pronounces that this Palestinian movement has its allegiance with Allah and the religion of Islam. The movement aims to control all of Palestine under Islam because Islam is the only religion under which all religions can co-exist. The following Article 7 lists that Hamas is one of the associations that struggle against Zionist invaders, and it finds its roots in the Palestinian and Muslim Brotherhood of the 1948 war. Article 9 declares that the Islamic Resistance arose at a time when people had wandered away from Islam, peoples values changed for the worst, and oppression was the order of the day. Therefore, the Article establishes that the incentive of Hamas is to establish an Islamic state so that the order of things would fall into place. The resulting article says that Hamas would back the wronged, the Palestinians, and ‘spare no effort to defeat injustice’. Article 15 goes further to disclose that in the case of the Jewish seizure of Palestine, Jihad becomes compulsory for every Muslim, and this would require the ‘diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses’. One of the last articles, Article 34 goes onto say that the false creed ‘Jewish creed’ can only be defeated by the righteous ‘Islamic’ creed (Hamas Covenant, 1988). Source of Funding Since Islamic Centre fathered Hamas, it is crucial to decipher how the initial organization acquired its funds. After the establishment of the Islamic Centre in Gaza in 1973, the institution gained control of the collection of alms tax. This tax was used to fund expansion. In 1978, the registration of the Islamic Centre as a charity helped it to gain widespread funding from global Muslims. And this source of money was used initially to equip Hamas in its venture to participate in the first intifada. Later Hamas began to collect its own funds. Today, the organization receives 85% of its funds from sponsors in the Gulf countries. The remaining 15% is gained from the religious donations and alms. By 1992 Hamas’s leaders moved to Amman and regulated funds from there. Hamas’s Connections with other FTO’s Israeli officials often compare Hamas with Al-Qaeda though Hamas has limited its militancy to Israel and Palestine lands and even Al-Qaeda has openly criticized Hamas’s participation in the 2005-2007 political process. Preferred method of attack Hamas mainly attacks Israel by firing rockets and mortars against the Israeli population. Since its control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, there have been more than 5,000 rockets fired into Israel by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. These attacks have been very successful because they place 0.25 million Israeli civilians vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Hamas makes use of populated Palestinian areas for arms development and strategic planning which is a clever play on its part because it makes it difficult for the authorities to single it out. Additionally, Hamas uses children for smuggling of weapons and suicide attacks. This tactic works because this part of the population can be easily manipulated and brainwashed to Hamas’s advantage. Hamas goes further using innocent lives as human shields making it impossible for militants to be shot. Also, the almost daily missile attacks are successful at striking fear into the hearts of Israeli civilians (Hamass Illegal Attacks on Civilians and Other Unlawful Methods of War - Legal Aspects, 2009). USA’s Level of Interest The American congress regards Hamas as a terrorist organization because of its resistance to the Israeli occupation and its rejection of the peace process. One way that the US works against Hamas is by strengthening Hamas’s opponents. Since June 2007 the US has provided aid of $2 billion to solidify the PA’s security forces and to provide relief to the Palestinian refugees. The current US policy in relation to Hamas is: 1 Humanitarian aid to people of Gaza 2 Budgetary and developmental help to Palestinians under the President Abbas so that the prosperity in the West Bank would incline the locals of Gaza under Hamas to join the PA 3 The assistance for the West Bank is to combat the terrorist activities of Hamas In its stance on Hamas the US law prohibits all funding of Hamas and recognizes Israel’s right to exist and all previous Israeli-Palestinian Pacts which Hamas has rejected. In addition, the Obama administration has proposed funding of missile programs ‘David’s Sling’ and ‘Iron Dome’ against Hamas’s missile threat (Zanotti, 2010). References Foreign Terrorist Organizations.Bureau of Counterterrorism. (2012).US Department of State. Retrieved from: http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm Hamas Covenant. (1988). Retrieved from http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp Hamass Illegal Attacks on Civilians and Other Unlawful Methods of War - Legal Aspects.(7 Jan. 2009). Report by The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, with the assistance of the International Law Department of the IDF Military Advocate Generals Corps.Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Law/Legal+Issues+and+Rulings/Legal_aspects_of_Hamas_methods_7_Jan_2009 Knudsen, A. (2004). Crescent and Sword: The Hamas Enigma. Bergen, Norway: Chr. Michelsen Institute. Retrieved from: http://www.cmi.no/publications/2004/wp/wp2004-14.pdf Mishal, Sh. &Sela, Av. (2000).The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence, and Coexistence. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. Zanotti, J. (2010). Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress. CRS report for Congress. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R41514.pdf Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry-Jerusalem. (1997). The Hamas: Background. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/970824.htm CRS report on HAMAS. Hon. Charles E. Schumer-House of Representatives. 1993. Hamas: The Organization, Goals and Tactics of a Militant Palestinian Organization. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/931014-hamas.htm Sherifa Zuhur. 2008. HAMAS and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group Based Politics. Work of US Government under Title 17. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/man/eprint/zuhur.pdf Hamas. Council on Foreign Relations-Israel. Updated October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.cfr.org/israel/hamas/p8968 Financial Links Uncovered Between HAMAS and Gaza Flotilla Organizers. 2011. Israel Defense Forces. Retrieved from http://www.idfblog.com/2011/06/30/financial-links-uncovered-between-hamas-and-gaza-flotilla-organizers/ Read More