Understanding Hamas: Violent Terrorism as Political Strategy

The forcible eviction of the Palestinians and the denial of their right of return, has led to them becoming refugees, this has translated into the adoption of aggressive tactics and strategies to achieve their goal of a sovereign nation. Palestinian society is territorially disjointed by the divisions of the West Bank (administered by Fatah) and the Gaza area (administered by Hamas) creating a disharmony in interest articulation towards the goal of

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has proven to be one of the most complex and “intractable” conflicts of modern history – or as some may even add – of all time. And after many decades of failed attempts at peacemaking in this region, there still seems to be no conceivable end to the conflict. During those same decades, most of the parties involved as well as the international community have embraced the idea of a two-state solution, but the question we pose today asks whether this solution is still a viable option considering the present context, and if not, is it finally time to consider a one-state solution? This essay will argue that although a two-state solution remains the more

Any reference to conflict turns history into a reservoir of blame. In the presence of conflict, narratives differ and multiply to delegitimize the opponent and to justify one’s own action. Narratives shape social knowledge. The Israeli Palestinian conflict, both Jews and Muslims, view the importance of holding the territories through religious, ideological, and security lenses, based on belief that Palestine was given by divine providence and that the land belongs to either the Israelis or Palestinian’s ancestral home. Understanding these perspectives is required for understanding Palestinians’ and especially Israel’s strategy and role in entering the Oslo peace process. Despite

Another element of the strategy is untwisting the “spiral of violence”. The classic mechanism, which assume the existence of cycles of suicide terrorism activity in a “action-repression-reaction” it is aimed at lowering the public support for the government, and increase it for the terrorists. By curried out the suicide terrorism attacks, the intension and aim of the terrorists is to hit the repressive actions of the authorities not only in themselves but also in the group indentified with them and/or their supporters (a specified ethnic group, religious, social or the entire society). As a result, this process has lead to massive social explosion directed against the government. Such a model of strategy for terrorism has been used by most of the leftist groups in Europe in the nineteenth century, and in the

This essay will focus on how theorists of peace and conflict have analysed the conflict in recent history. Especially, the peace process after the first Palestinian intifada and the 1993 Oslo-agreements will be analysed. In addition, this essay will shed light on the involvement of the United States in the

The second Part of Jonathan R. White’s ninth edition Terrorism and Homeland Security deals with the national and ethnic movements of international terrorism, their emergence as well as well as motifs. Ideological terrorist and ethnic separatists are hard to differentiate since they use the same procedures and tactics to get their demands. Although both fall under the definition of terrorism, there is a difference in the definition of their goals and demands. While separatists have defined, achievable goal, religious terrorists have a nihilistic ideology that are from a rational point of view not feasible. Therefore, it is impossible for satisfactorily negotiation

Thus, he emphasizes how terrorist organization in turn assess their targets. Targeting democracies at a certain time in policy debate lead Pape to conclude that the coercive nature of the suicide terrorist attacks is what make them successful in achieving their goals. The author uses two key examples to explain his findings. He emphasis the success of coercion with policy decisions. Israel’s withdraw from Gaza, “Israeli concessions increased their confidence in coercive effectiveness of suicide attack” The Crucial Case of Hamas “examinations of the crucial cases demonstrates that terrorist groups came to the conclusion that suicide attack accelerated Israeli’s withdraw in both cases” (). Pape concludes that viewing the increasing success of terrorist attacks to coerce governments it actuality it is not successful as often as terrorist wants.

HAMAS, an Arabic acronym meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement”, is the name of the socio-political organization currently in power over the Gaza Strip. For decades Jews & Muslims and Israelis & Palestinians, often one in the same, have fought for control over the region. Each have killed thousands of the other, destroyed infrastructures and used underhanded tactics to gain an advantage. Nations such as Japan, the European Union, the United States and (of course) Israel classify the group as terrorists, while nations such as Turkey, Russia and Switzerland do not. (King, 2010) Many factors are taken into consideration before a Nation-State denounces an organization as a “terrorist group”. A profile of HAMAS may help make clear why it is

Hamas’s origins stretch back decades through the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine; and Hamas took it current shape during the early years of the intifada. Hamas was not only formed to resist an Israeli state, but also was firmly against the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) dominance in the Palestinian National movement.

Terrorism in the Middle East has brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the attention of the world. These terrorist groups use murder, bombs, threats, and other violent acts to get their way politically. Hamas, the organization that has replaced Fatah as the representative of the Palestinians, is a leading sponsor of terrorism. The Hamas are the leading reason there is not peace in the middle east as they strongly embrace terrorism.

Is Hamas a terrorist organization or a legitimate political group? Before this question can be addressed, a brief history of the Hamas organization is required. This brief history will cover the beginnings of Hamas, key points of the charter establishing Hamas, and the different interconnected sections of the Hamas organization. Once this is done, the question “Is Hamas a terrorist organization or a legitimate political group?” can be examined. This will be done by dividing the question into two separate questions. The first question examined will be “Is Hamas a terrorist organization?” and the second question examined will be “Is Hamas a legitimate political group?”

Both of these approaches would pave the way for Hamas’ seemingly bipolar tenure in Palestine. By the 1970’s, the Palestinian population was disillusioned by secularism, Westernization and materialism, and many looked toward the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic revival as an alternative . A drastic turn of events led to niche in Palestine that a more violent facet of the Muslim Brotherhood was willing to fill.

For many centuries, Judaic and Arabian societies have engaged in one of the most complicated and lengthy conflicts known to mankind, the makings of a highly difficult peace process. Unfortunately for all the world’s peacemakers the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the war between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, is rooted in far more then ethnic tensions. Instead of drawing attention towards high-ranking officials of the Israeli government and Hamas, focus needs to be diverted towards the more suspect and subtle international relations theory of realism which, has imposed more problems than solutions.

Since many religions have started in the Middle East, it has become the center for erupting conflicts. For instance, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been in the news for many reasons. Both groups want control of the God given land that they both claim is theirs, according to God, and what had happened in the past. The result of the conflict is religious terrorism (PBS, 1). Continuing, some Middle Eastern politics have been in conflict, even dividing communities of the

The PA resembles a classic authoritarian regime under the reign of Mahmoud Abbas even though it is supposed to be democratic. The PA government remains relatively stable under this structure. However, militant groups like Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad could be a credible external threat to the established governance of the PA. Since 2003, conflicts between the two major factions, the traditional dominant party, Fatah, and its subsequent electoral rival, Hamas, have fractured the Palestinian side. “After the Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the territory controlled by the PA was split between Fatah in the West Bank, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”[1] The estrangement between the parties has led to “the fall of bipartisan governance of the PA”[2].