Hamas (hämäs`) [Arab., = zeal], Arabic acronym for the
Islamic Resistance Movement, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization that was founded in 1987 during the Intifada Intifada [Arab.,=uprising, shaking off], the Palestinian uprising during the late 1980s and early 90s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas that had been occupied by Israel since 1967. A vehicular accident that killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Dec.
..... Click the link for more information. ; it seeks to establish an Islamic state in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip (the former mandate of Palestine Palestine , historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at various times comprising parts of modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and Egypt; also known as the Holy Land. The name is derived from a word meaning "land of the Philistines.
..... Click the link for more information. ). An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood Muslim Brotherhood, officially Jamiat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun [Arab.,=Society of Muslim Brothers], religious and political organization founded (1928) in Egypt by Hasan al-Banna.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hamas operates mosques, schools, clinics, and social programs but is best known in the West for its military wing, which has carried out numerous terrorist attacks on Israelis. Hamas opposed the 1993 accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), coordinating council for Palestinian organizations, founded (1964) by Egypt and the Arab League and initially controlled by Egypt.
..... Click the link for more information. (PLO), which granted Palestinians gradual limited autonomy in the Gaza Strip Gaza Strip , (2003 est. pop. 1,330,000) rectangular coastal area, c.140 sq mi (370 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea adjoining Egypt and Israel, in what was formerly SW Palestine.
..... Click the link for more information. and the West Bank West Bank, territory, formerly part of Palestine, after 1949 administered by Jordan, since 1967 largely occupied by Israel (2005 est. pop. 2,386,000), 2,165 sq mi (5,607 sq km), west of the Jordan River, incorporating the northwest quadrant of the Dead Sea.
..... Click the link for more information. and called for complete Israeli withdrawal from both areas. After 1993 Hamas's military wing carried out suicide bombings in Israel in an attempt to derail both that agreement and further negotiations. Hamas supporters were prominent among those who challenged the Palestinian Authority Palestinian Authority (PA) or Palestinian National Authority, interim self-government body responsible for areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian control.
..... Click the link for more information. (which was dominated by Al Fatah, the main faction of the PLO), and its leaders have been subjected to mass arrests. The organization opposed the 1996 elections held in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for the Palestinian Authority legislative council but did not call for a boycott; some Hamas sympathizers ran as independents. In 2004, Israel killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas's spiritual leader, in retaliation for continued Hamas attacks, and subsequently Hamas military leaders based in Damascus, Syria, became more influential than the political leaders in Gaza. In 2005 Hamas ran strongly in local elections in Gaza and the West Bank, besting Al Fatah in many areas, and in the Palestinian Authority (PA) legislative elections in Jan., 2006, it won a majority of the seats and then formed a government. Accelerating tensions between Hamas and Al Fatah threatened to dissolve the PA in chaos in the spring of 2006, but when Hamas forces captured (June) an Israeli soldier and held in him in the Gaza Strip it provoked a major Israeli incursion into N and central Gaza and renewed fighting. A political stalemate with PA President Mahmoud Abbas Abbas, Mahmoud , 1935–, Palestinian leader, also known as Abu Mazen. He was born in Saffed, Palestine (now in Israel), but his family fled during the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli conflict and lived in Syria. Educated at Damascus Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. over recognizing Israel and other issues led to tensions with the PLO that erupted at times into fighting in 2006. In 2007 Hamas and Al Fatah agreed to form a national unity government.
Hamas
acronym of
Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah English
Islamic Resistance Movement(Arabic; “Zeal”)Militant Palestinian Islamic movement. The group is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian Islamic state. It was founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, and its leadership comes from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas's aims are more militant: it takes the position that Palestine cannot be surrendered to non-Muslims. It opposed the 1993 peace agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Beginning in 2000, the group intensified its violent acts against Israelis, including numerous suicide bombings. In 2006 Hamas participated in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council and won a surprise victory over Fatah.