Book Hamas Political Thought And Practice

Book Description

In the aftermath of the 1982 exodus of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Lebanon to Tunis, the Palestinian resistance movement to Israeli occupation underwent a major transformation. In the few years following 1982, the internal dynamics of the Palestinian movement vacuolated between the extreme situation of geography and the nature of struggle against Israel. With respect to geography, the center of weight of Palestinian military and political leadership was moved to the furthest place from Palestine since the rise of the Palestine question early in the twentieth century. With respect to the nature of the struggle, the Palestinian movement experienced the loss of its military alternative, however, modest, and found itself confined to unsatisfactory political means and appeals. During the same period, two other developments pertaining to the geography and nature of struggle took place. Geographically, the eruption of the Palestinian popular uprising or intifada, in December 1987 brought the center of struggle to the heart of the historic territory of Palestine for the first time since the Israeli occupation. Regarding the nature of the struggle the extreme employment of pure political means, futile and stripped of any military capability after the resistance groups were forced to leave their bases in Lebanon in 1982, was replaced by the extreme of a costly but fruitful means of struggle a widespread popular uprising through out the west bank and Gaza strips. The rapid transformation of the geography and nature of struggle brought with it new “strugglers”: the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad as new Palestinian Organizations with great influence and specific coloration. This was not only a new point of departure for the Palestinian political struggle, it was also the Palestinian incarnation of politicized Islam in the Middle East. Within this context, the transformation of the Palestinian struggle and the emergence of (Palestinian) Islamism, this study examines Hamass’ political thought and practice. The focus on Hamas, without, without covering othe, and less influential, Islamic Movement in Palestine, stems from the movement greater relevance to the wider context of the Palestine question, enjoying an acknowledged popularity and significant political and military weight. Hamas has claimed that it represents the mainstream of the Palestinian Islamism, a claim with which most observers would agree. This status, then, justifies an in-depth study of Hamas movement.

"Must Reading - The most comprehensive and critically documented study of HAMAS published to date." John L. Esposito, University Professor and Director, Center for Christian -Muslim Understanding, Georgetown University

"This is the first comprehensive and in-depth study of the Hamas movement in Palestine, examining its historical, ideological, and operational aspects. It traces the genesis of Hamas during the Palestinian uprising, examines its political formation and intellectual development, and presents its evolving attitude towards the struggle and its proper conduct. The author also discusses Hamas’s relations with the PLO and other actors on the Palestinian political scene, its Arab and international relations, and its political program and mode of popular operation.

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