"It has been fifty years since the rape of Palestine. Fifty years of murder, rape, theft and destruction. Peace? What Peace? There has been nothing but destruction and war since 1948 when the Zionist cancer first appeared in the heart of the Muslim world. The Palestinian people are still suffering from the international racist conspiracy to destroy the Muslim world and rob its wealth. Shame on those who have stood silently by as the crime of the century was being committed, shame on those who still stand silently as Palestine is being raped. " From the "Unofficial HAMAS Website"
The outbreak of the intifada and the establishment of "Islamic Jihad" - a rival organization which had broken away from the Muslim Brotherhood and advocated violent struggle - urged HAMAS to begin militant activity.
Following are some outrageous quotes that have come out of some of the leaders and followers of HAMAS,and groups like them:
'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.' Said by The Martyr Imam Hasan al-Bana.
In the Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS: "Kill so many Jews that they will eventually abandon Palestine.": Ibrahim Sarbal, Leader of Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine - Al-Aqsa Brigades
"Six million descendants of monkeys [i.e., Jews] now rule in all the nations of the world, but their day, too, will come. Allah! Kill them all, do not leave even one!": Quoted Imam Sheik Ahmad Ibrahim, HAMAS leader, in a sermon at the Palestine Mosque in Gaza.
Throughout the Middle East, from North Africa to Iran, extremist voices are being raised in the name of Islam, demanding political power and the destruction of Israel. Inside of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, the echoes of this phenomenon have produced two movements, HAMAS and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, both of which seek to undermine the Jewish State from within.
Hamas was founded as an alternative to the secular Palestine Liberation Organization. HAMAS offers its activists the total rejection of Israel together with absolute salvation.
The Acronym H A M A S was taken from the Arabic "Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Lslamiya", meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement", and literally denotes "Zeal" or "Enthusiasm." The HAMAS covenant, however, interprets its name to mean "Strength and Bravery."
Background
HAMAS, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, evolved in the territories during the years 1967-77, inspired by the Brotherhood founded in Egypt in the 1920’s.
In 1978, it was registered by Sheikh Ahmad Yasin as a non-profit organization under the name of "al-Mujama". In the first years of its existence, the organization concentrated on winning over people to be observant Muslims, and gained influence and power in educational institutions, universities and mosques.
The organization was founded in its present militant form after the outbreak of the intifada. The outbreak of the intifada and the establishment of "Islamic Jihad" - a rival organization which had broken away from the Muslim Brotherhood and advocated violent struggle - spurred HAMAS, an acronym for the "Islamic Resistance Movement", to begin militant activity.
Under the banner of Islam, the movement began to direct its activities not only against the Israeli authorities in the territories, but also against supporters of Fatah, the mainstream organization of the PLO.
Ideology
The ideology of HAMAS combines religious principles and pan-Arab ideas with Palestinian national aspirations. HAMAS sees Palestine as a religious trust (waqf) which should remain under Muslim control for eternity. In the organization’s "covenant", published in August 1988, HAMAS wrote that "the liberation of Palestine in its entirety, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, is the most lofty of strategic goals." As part of this policy, HAMAS opposes the idea of self-government for the Palestinians, as well as the entire peace process.
Finances
In order to finance its social and military activities, HAMAS raises funds from several sources: donations and membership fees, which are collected from members and supporters in the territories, fundraising meetings among its Muslim and Arab supporters both in the Arab world and in the West, and direct financial aid from Arab and Islamic countries, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states.
Operations
Motivated by the HAMAS’ radical and militant ideology, every member of the organization feels a personal duty to engage in the armed struggle against Israel. Leaflet No. 65 of HAMAS which was distributed in October 1990 called for the murder of Jews and the burning of their property: "Every Jew is a settler and it is our obligation to kill him."
HAMAS’ major operations have included gunfire attacks on Israeli civilian and military targets, bombs directed at security forces and IDF installations in the territories, firebombs thrown at Israeli civilian and military vehicles, the murder of suspected collaborators, and the concealment of arms in mosques and the homes of activists.
Under internal pressure following repeated set backs, the Palestinian Islamist resistance movement, Hamas, waged a series of attacks (4 bombings in eight days killing over 50 people) to save its dwindling popularity and to guarantee a place for itself in the post peace process Palestinian entity. It backfired. The intensity of the attacks represents the deep crisis in the movement that has been taking place since the Oslo Accords. Liberating Palestine is the last thing on Hamas’s mind today, as it struggles internally amongst its leadership, and externally to remain on the Palestinian political map. Today, the most pressing question for Hamas that needs a quick answer is the following: Were its goals, such as resurrecting its dwindling popularity, served by these recent bombings?
Stripped from its cash flow of the early nineties, and increasingly losing supporters among its uncommitted ranks after Israel’s redeployments, has forced the Islamist group to take action. It demands a role in shaping the future of the Palestinian entity. It realises that without its imprisoned leadership and the few thousand of its failed activists, it would be incapacitated as well as discredited among its ranks. Until recently, Hamas’s hotly pursued activists, the Mutardeen, did not exceed one hundred in number. Yet, it has the capacity to recruit fresh troops in places such as Hebron, where Israeli settlers and army remain an occupying force, and in Gaza and Jenin where the closures are further depriving the Palestinians from making a living and improving their ever worsening economic situation. Hamas admits that the blows it was dealt - be it the loss of its popularity or the crackdown on its activists and leaders by Arafat’s Authority - have paralysed its ability to choose wisely the best alternative available to it to regain its strength. Hamas leaders are aware that the Islamic movement has been undergoing a crisis, but they are trying to find the best solution to enable it to survive. They are not united on what that solution may be.
Despite its crisis, Hamas has consistently retained its strongest card with which it could bargain - the possibility of carrying out attacks. It has chosen now to play it, in an effort to regain its popularity, to display its importance and ensure that it is not marginalized, and to bring Israel to negotiate with it. The most recent attacks are a culmination of the series of set backs which Hamas has been confronted with since the signing of the Declaration of Principles in September 1993. (From "ISSUES", perspectives on Middle East and world Affairs)