Hamas

Hamas

Introduction

Hamas is the most influential and largest Palestinian militant movement which serves as a primary political faction of Palestine, along with the Fatah party. It's a Sunni Islamist group and was founded in the year 1987 at the time of first Intifada. Apart from that, it is a Foreign Terrorist Organization designated by United States which vigorously opposes the state of Israel (Council on Foreign Relations, 2012). The word 'Hamas' is actually a short form of Harakat al-Muqawana al-Islamiya, which refers to an Islamic Resistance Movement. The movement has applied de facto rule on the Gaza Strip since the time it wrested the territory from Fatah. Other than that, the two parties have made efforts of reconciliation due to Arab Spring revolutions, yet the progress stays elusive. Even though Hamas has a military reputation, but also has an extensive network on local support through social programming, which includes schools, medical clinics, food banks and schools (Council on Foreign Relations, 2012).

Organizational Structure, Leaders and Key Actors

Khaled Mashaal was given the title of leader of Hamas after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was its founder and almost blind paraplegic, got assassinated in the year 2004 by Israeli forces. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was immediate successor of Yassin, got killed in an attack of the same after a month of Yassin's death (Milton-Edwards & Farrell, 2010). It is due to the assassinations that Hamas has remained obscure when it comes to the group's organizational structure. For example, it is unclear whether Mashaal has control over the entire hierarchy of Gaza, and he lives in Damascus, which is Syria's capital (Milton-Edwards & Farrell, 2010). It is also unclear whether Ismail Haniyeh has control over the hierarchy even when he was close to Yassin and was also responsible for leading Hamas to a spectacular victory in parliamentary elections.

The Prime Minister of Palestinian parliament is Haniyeh but Mashaal is an important person since Hamas won in the elections. He has been the representative of Hamas during meetings with governments of other countries and other parties around the world. Mashaal had become active in Hamas during the late 1980s, and became a prominent figure after Kuwait's invasion by Iraq in the year 1990. He then moved to Jordan and was responsible for heading a Hamas bureau where he raised funds internationally even though it was called a controversial venture (Milton-Edwards & Farrell, 2010). He also expanded the foreign relations of the group with countries like Syria and Iran.

Sympathizers and Cohorts

The people in the West think that Hamas is responsible for the violence that has been happening and it is because of this group that peace talks cannot take place between Israel and other countries. In order to solve this problem, a lot of efforts have been made by the United States as well as other countries to leave Hamas alone, so that they lose all kinds of support and ultimately surrender. Negotiations and discussions have not really taken place between the two countries Palestine and Israel since ...