Hamas Second Edition: A Beginner's Guide - Softcover

Hroub, Khaled

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745329721 ISBN 13: 9780745329727

Verlag: Pluto Press, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

What is Hamas's history; its key beliefs; and its political agenda? From its' founding, following the First Intifada, to the 2008 Israeli Gaza offensive, Khaled Hroub writes this indispensable introduction to Hamas.

The book encompasses all major events, including the January 2006 elections, the ever-evolving relationship with Fatah, and the Gaza war, in addition to providing insight into Hamas's ideology by studying their charter, their socio-economic strategies and their outlook on Israel. Explaining the reasons for Hamas's popularity, Hroub provides the key facts often missing from news reports.

The reality of Hamas's victory means that the West will now have to engage with it more seriously if there is to be peace in the Middle East. This book provides the first essential step towards a better understanding of the challenges and surprises that the future may hold.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Khaled Hroub is a Palestinian, born into a refugee camp in Bethlehem, and now part of the diaspora of educated intellectuals. He is currently director of the Arab Media Project at Cambridge University and is the author of three previous books on Hamas.

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Hamas

A Beginner's Guide

By Khaled Hroub

Pluto Press

Copyright © 2010 Khaled Hroub
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7453-2972-7

Contents

Preface, 
Introduction, 
Introduction to the Second Edition, 
1 Hamas's history, 
2 Hamas's ideology, strategy and objectives, 
3 Hamas, Israel and Judaism, 
4 Hamas's resistance and military strategy, 
5 Hamas's political and social strategy, 
6 Hamas and the Palestinians, 
7 Hamas and 'International Islamism', 
8 Hamas and the West, 
9 Hamas's leadership and structure, 
10 A new Hamas?, 
11 Hamas in power, 
12 The future of Hamas, 
13 Hamas and the Gaza war, 
Recommended reading, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Hamas's history

ISLAMISM AND THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE

How are Islam and Palestine interrelated?

Over the centuries, Islam and Palestine have been intimately linked in the imagery and history of Muslims. Palestine has been bestowed with Islamic holiness, as well as religious significance for Christian and Jewish people, for a host of reasons and historic events. Jerusalem, and in particular al-Masjid al-Aqsa (the furthest mosque), is the first place to which Muslims directed their prayers when the Prophet Muhammad started preaching Islam in Arabia in the early seventh century. Bait al-Maqdes, or Jerusalem, is the third holiest places in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Arabia. It is frequently referred to in the Quran, and is given numerous mentions in the sayings – Hadith – of the Prophets. Most of the stories about God's messengers as related in the Quran have specific geographical references to Palestine. One full chapter in the Quran, sourat al-Isra, is dedicated to the Prophet Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and his ascension there to heaven to meet God. This is a chapter passionately embraced by Muslims the world over as one of the most astonishing divine stories. On the very rock where the Prophet set off on his journey to heaven, the Dome of the Rock was built, adjacent to the spot where the Jews say the Old Temple of Solomon was built.

The Christian and Jewish religious significance of Palestine is also recognized in Islam. Jesus Christ, who was born in Palestine, and Moses, who migrated to it, are considered by the Quran and Muslims to be two of the five most highly regarded prophets of God (the other three being Muhammad, Ibrahim and Ismail).

Added to its religious sacredness, Palestine has long occupied a geo-strategic position, linking the African and Asian parts of the Middle East, offering a long coast and rich passage on the Mediterranean between the Arabian peninsula, Egypt and Greater Syria. Because of its religious and strategic significance Palestine was destined to be the field of wars and invasions. Muslims conquered Palestine and brought it under their control in 638 AD. Since then Islam has been a central feature of the political, cultural and emotional foundation of this ancient tract of land.

The Western Crusaders from 1097 onward for two hundred years fought war after war to gain control over Palestine, and in particular Jerusalem, and bring it within Christendom. The Muslims, who at that point already had ruled Palestine for over 400 years, had long allowed people of other religions to live in peace in their lands. Muslims had long welcomed pilgrims of all religions, and had made accessible all of the historical shrines of religious significance to themselves and others: Christians, Jews, Persians, Orthodox Christians, Coptics and many others. Palestine was part of an ancient area, sacred to many people.

After 400 years of open exchange, and to the humiliation of Muslims, the Crusaders ruthlessly took Jerusalem, slaughtered its Muslim inhabitants and succeeded in ruling there for 70 years. When Saladin defeated the Crusaders in 1187 AD he entered the imagination and history of Islam as one of its most prominent heroes, whose successes signified the end of Muslim disgrace and defeat. The name of Saladin brings to Muslims and Palestinians memories of glory, and for many of them it emphasizes the inevitable will and capacity to rise from the ashes. Perceived as brutal foreign invasions launched by European Christians, the Crusades are still seen by many Arabs and Palestinians as the original blueprint for the Zionist invasion, which also had its roots in Europe.

What is the relationship between Islam and Palestine within the Arab–Israeli conflict?

In the consciousness of many Muslims, the identity of the ruler of Palestine indicates the strength or weakness of Islam and Muslims. If Palestine is ruled and controlled by foreigners and non-Muslims – from the Crusaders of the medieval ages to the Zionists of the twentieth century and the present – then Islam and Muslims perceive themselves to be weak and defeated.

After the final defeat of the Crusaders in 1291, Palestine remained under Muslim rule for over 700 additional years, until the break-up of the Muslim Ottoman Empire which had ruled Palestine, in the aftermath of World War I. The collapse of this declining Turkish empire, which had sided with the German allies in the Great War, was met with scant specific regret and loyalty by many in Palestine and the rest of the Arab world, because of the recent brutality of its reign. However the Ottoman foundation in Islam had kept Palestine firmly fixed within the Arab and Muslim world.

With the complete political collapse of the Empire in the wake of the armistice, Ottoman territories in the Middle East were carved up into temporary protectorates controlled by the European victors, until more permanent political configurations could be concluded. A temporary British mandate was set up over Palestine between 1922 and 1948. While the centurieslong roots of Islamic heritage and allegiance in Palestine were self-evident, strong currents of Zionism had long infiltrated British thinking. As early as 1917 Balfour had expressed his intention to support a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, and with the surge of Jewish refugees fleeing increasingly larger Nazi-controlled parts of Europe, Jewish immigration into British-administered Palestine escalated throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Fighting what were clearly perceived to be colonial powers, Arab liberation movements across the former Ottoman territories united across their assorted versions of Islam and individual nationalism, and attempted to maximize the mobilization capacities of both tenets. In Palestine, Palestinians revolted against the British mandate during the 1920s and 1930s under just such a blended Islamic banner.

But the fate of Palestine would be irrevocably compounded by factors beyond the simple struggle between colonizers and colonized. By 1948 Britain's control over Palestine was severely compromised by its own state of economic depletion following World War II, and ironically, by the relentless intensity of Zionist terrorist attacks. With mounting international sympathy for Jewish settlement in Palestine, the United Nations proposed a partitioning scheme. In May 1948, a depleted Britain withdrew from a Palestine already descending into civil war. A Jewish state of Israel was declared almost immediately, and was recognized instantly by the United States. Palestinians had been dumped into an abyss of chaos in their own land.

One of the most popular rebellion movements against the British, often recalled with pride by Palestinians, is the Izzedin...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Pluto Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0745329721
• ISBN 13: 9780745329727
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 2
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar