Hamas

Hamas (حماس Ḥamās, an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Since June 2007, after winning a large majority in the Palestinian Parliament and defeating rival Palestinian party Fatah in a series of violent clashes, Hamas has governed the Gaza portion of the Palestinian Territories. The governments of Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, and the United States classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. The United Kingdom and Australia classify only Hamas' independent military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada, an uprising against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories. Hamas launched numerous suicide bombings against Israelis, the first of them in April, 1993. Hamas ceased the attacks in 2005 and renounced them in April, 2006. Hamas has also been responsible for rocket attacks since 2001, improvised explosive device attacks, and shootings, but it reduced those operations in 2005 and 2006. In January 2006, Hamas was successful in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, taking 76 of the 132 seats in the chamber, while the previous ruling Fatah party took 43. After Hamas's election victory, violent and non-violent conflicts arose between Hamas and Fatah. Following the Battle of Gaza in June 2007, elected Hamas officials were ousted from their positions in the Palestinian National Authority government in the West Bank and replaced by rival Fatah members and independents. Hamas retained control of Gaza. On June 18, 2007, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) issued a decree outlawing the Hamas militia. Israel then immediately imposed an economic blockade on Gaza, and Hamas launched Qassam attacks on areas of Israel near its border with Gaza. Hamas rocket attacks ceased following an Egyptian brokered ceasefire that went into effect on June 19, 2008, but rocket attacks by other organizations continued despite action taken by Hamas to prevent them. Two months before the end of the six-month ceasefire the conflict escalated after an Israeli incursion into Gaza on November 4 that killed seven Hamas militants which led to a renewal of Hamas rocket attacks and the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict began when Israel invaded Gaza in late December, 2008. Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza in mid-January 2009, but has maintained its blockade of Gaza's border and airspace. Through its funding and management of schools, health-care clinics, mosques, youth groups, athletic clubs and day-care centers, Hamas by the mid-1990s had attained a "well-entrenched" presence in the West Bank and Gaza. An estimated 80% to 90% of Hamas revenues fund health, social welfare, religious, cultural, and educational services. Hamas's 1988 charter calls for replacing the State of Israel with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. However, in July 2009, the Wall Street Journal and Council on Foreign Relations reported an interview with Khaled Meshal, Hamas's Damascus-based political bureau chief, where he stated that "Hamas was willing to cooperate with the United States on promoting a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict which included a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders provided Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to Israel and East Jerusalem be recognized as the Palestinian capital. " Hamas has in the past described its conflict with Israel as neither religious nor antisemitic; the head of Hamas's political bureau stated in early 2006 that the conflict with Israel "is not religious but political", and that Jews have a covenant from God "that is to be respected and protected. " Nonetheless, the Hamas Charter and statements by Hamas leaders are believed by some to be influenced by antisemitic conspiracy theories.