Hamas (Arabic: حَمَاسُ, romanized: Ḥamās), an acronym of its official name, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya (Arabic: حَرَكَةُ الْمُقَاوَمَةِ الِاسْلَامِيَّةِ, lit. "Islamic Resistance Movement"), is a PalestinianSunni Islamist political movement in Gaza.
Hamas was started in 1987 by Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi after the beginning of the First Uprising against Israeli violence and occupation. It started as the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Egypt. In the 2006 legislative election, the party received 74 out of 132 seats in parliament by campaigning on clean government without corruption, combined with affirmation of Palestinians’ right to defend against Israeli occupation. The party has supported the reestablishment of the Land of Palestine in all historic land, which includes the West Bank, Gaza, and the State of Israel.[34] The 2017 Hamas Charter stated that the party's struggle was with Zionists and Israeli terrorists. In 2018, the United Nations voted to reject an American claim to condemn Hamas. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency, "Rejecting the American drafted resolution against the resistance represents a blow to the American administration and reaffirms the legitimacy of the resistance."
Name
Hamas is an acronym of the Arabic phrase Arabic: حَرَكَةُ الْمُقَاوَمَةِ الِاسْلَامِيَّةِ, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or "Islamic Resistance Movement". The Hebrew meaning of the name Hamas (חמס; as used in the Hebrew Bible) is "violence".
Many non-state groups support the use of “terrorist organization” to describe Hamas; Zionist organizations and other pro-Israel groups in particular support this[source?] These groups also exert pressure on the international press to use this language.[37] However, many of the international press, including the English-language edition of the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz and until 20th October 2023, the BBC, refer to Hamas members by the more neutral term "militants” instead. [38]
Popularity
In early 2006, Hamas won a clear victory in the vote for the Palestinian legislative election. Voters saw Hamas as an alternative to exchange the long-ruling Fatah party, the main part of the PLO. This was due to how Fatah had not improved the Palestinian people's conditions and instead allegedly worsened conditions by corruption. There have been no elections since 2006.
Local work
Hamas has shown its organizational ability by building health, education, and social services to help the population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where there are many poor people. Their efforts ended up increasing support to Hamas. In the first half of 2007, Hamas gained political control of the Gaza Strip, while Fatah keeps its headquarters in the West Bank.[34]
Notes
↑ However, al-Qaeda endorsed the 7 October 2023 attacks. [33]
↑ 34.034.1"Hamas". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
↑"Hamas". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019. ...in 1993 Hamas launched its first suicide attack inside Israel, a practice that it would uphold from then on, causing massive Israeli civilian casualties.