Hamas came into existence in late 1987 in response to the then decades long Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian members of the Muslim Brotherhood used the First Intifada (meaning uprising in Arabic, a popular revolt against Israel, which lasted from 1987-1993) as the perfect opportunity to establish their new movement. This new group was called “Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas's charter, released a year later, is studded with anti-Semitism and declares ‘jihad its path and death for the cause of Allah its most sublime belief.’” (WSJ) In 1991, Hamas, after having gained more and more popular support, established the “al-Qassam Brigades,” which legitimized Hamas in a way that broke it into two parts: the political wing, and the military wing, responsible for attacks against Israel. (USAToday) Hamas continues scattered suicide and other attacks on Israel over the next decade.
It is widely accepted that Hamas played a major role in instigating and fighting in the second Intifada as well. To Hamas’s pleasure, they also benefited more than anyone else from the Intifada. Hamas led an uprising that changed the dynamic in the region forever. Much more violent than the first Intifada, the second Intifada was responsible for the lives of 3,223 Palestinians and 950 Israelis, as well as 52 foreigners and it lasted about five years. (BBC) The overarching cause of the uprising was a general dissatisfaction with the results of the Oslo Accords. Palestinians were upset by the results of the talks and that disapproval collected upon, what had then become decades of unrest and unhappiness, eventually erupting into a mass riot against Israel. In early 2004 Hamas leadership offered to end its participation in the Intifada in return for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Soon after that proposal was made Hamas issued a preemptive counter-offer for a decade-long truce in return for a phased liberation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israelis declined both offers, passing them off as fraudulent. (Independent) The two men who made the offers were soon thereafter killed in targeted Israeli airstrikes.
The following year, 2005, Hamas boycotted the Palestinian presidential election, but did take part in small, local elections organized by Yasser Arafat. Hamas overwhelmingly controlled the municipal elections, receiving control of more than a third of the districts, beating long time champions and political giant, Fatah. In the 2006 national elections they again beat Fatah, winning 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats in the Palestinian Authority, compared to Fatah’s 43 seats. (NYT) This overwhelming defeat was seen a cry for the end of Fatah’s rule, which was plagued with inaction and corruption. Hamas had brought down Fatah and the PLO, (as Fatah is the largest sector of the PLO) and ended their 40 years of political reign. Following the rise of Hamas and the downfall of Fatah, a large sector of the international community, namely, the US, Russia, the EU, and a majority of the UN, issued an ultimatum to the Hamas controlled Palestinian Authority, warning them that any support that they were being given would be cut off they did not renounce violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist, and adhere to previous agreements between the Palestinians and Israelis. Obviously, Hamas refused, and the ultimatum issuers followed through by stopping all international aid to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The post-election unstable relations between Hamas and Fatah were destroyed in June 2007 when Hamas used the instability of the Palestinian Authority to kick out Fatah politicians from Gaza. In response, now President, Abbas dismissed all Fatah members of the Palestinian Authority and made Hamas militias illegal. Violent skirmishes between Fatah and Hamas left 600+ dead and Human Rights Watch was issuing accusations of torture and war crimes for both sides. (YNET and HRW) In the end, while disputes still continue, Hamas remains in control of Gaza while Fatah is in control of the West Bank.
Egypt announced on June 17, 2008 that Hamas and Israel had reached a six-month truce where Hamas agreed to stop rocket fire into Israel and to commit to preventing other Palestinian groups from attacking Israel and Israel would allow for trade over the Gaza border. This truce eventually failed however, but in July 2009, turning against their decades long mantras, Hamas stated that they were willing to cooperate in a resolution in the conflict, wherein there would be a Palestinian state whose borders were taken from the 1967 proposal, Palestinian refugees would be given the right to return home to Israel and, finally, East Jerusalem would be recognized as the state’s capital. (Reuters)
The purpose of this length retelling of Hamas’s history is to illustrate what could only be called an evolution. Hamas started as a group of Palestinians, whose ideology was adopted largely from the Muslim Brotherhood. Over the last twenty years, Hamas has morphed into a governing body. When foreign states are addressing the Palestinians in Gaza, they address Hamas. When there are elections in Gaza, Hamas wins, and Hamas becomes the voice of the people. When Israel has a military offensive or has peace talks it is against or with Hamas. The importance of this evolution is that the actions of Hamas ten or fifteen years ago, cannot be categorized the same way or even called by the same names. Hamas’s terrorism of, say, 1990 may be today’s terroristic acts in the context of a war.
The definition of terrorism for the purpose of this paper, is the use of fear-inspiring tactics against non-military people or property (i.e. soft targets) as a means to achieve a desired political, social, economic, religious, or geographic (meaning a desired specific geographic area due to any of the previous reasons) goal, perpetrated by a non-state actor or a non-military. The definition of war, for the purpose of this paper, is the use of violence against military people or property (i.e. hard targets) as a means to achieve a desired political goal, perpetrated by a state actor or military. And, finally, the definition of a terroristic act in the context of a war, is a fear-inspiring tactic used against soft targets as a means toward winning a greater war, perpetrated by a state actor or military.
Hamas’s evolution shows that they cannot be simply identified as a terrorist organization, which commits terrorist acts. They are the internal popularly recognized government. By definition, a government cannot be a terrorist, or use terrorism, as they are a state actor. Hamas is a state actor and military that has declared war, by war of acts of war, and in the context of that war, Hamas has committed acts of terror. The same too could be argued against Israel for the dropping of white phosphorous and the burning of olive trees in Gaza.
Currently Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by nations like the U.S., E.U., Canada, Israel, and Japan but not by nations like Russia, India, and Turkey. This is not to say that those countries that do not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization are correct, (those nations’ motivations for that decision are entirely different and hugely complex analysis), but rather that there exists a split. The definition used so far for this analysis would suggest that it is inappropriate to classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, because, they simply are not. Hamas is the government of Gaza, a democratically elected government that has chosen to informally declare war on Israel, and in the process of combatting that war, has used acts of terror as a tactic for winning that war. What does seem more appropriate is for countries to have a separate list that identifies state actors, and governments as having used acts of terror as a tactic in warfare.
It is a very fine line between terrorism and acts of terror committed by a government, under the blanket of warfare. Hard questions need to be asked, like was the Taliban a legitimate state actor at the time of 9/11, at which point, 9/11 was not a act of terror, but rather an act of war, that was also a terroristic act, used as a tactic of warfare. Also, it has to be decided whether these acts are war crimes, whether or not this particular analysis holds water.
Terrorism and warfare are extremely difficult concepts to think about. They truly have an endless number of facets that dictate how they are to be analyzed. Belligerents have to be considered, as well as tactics, weapons, motivations, justness, human error, etc. The world currently stands in a more or less binary state when it comes to violence on a mass scale: war or terror. But the truth is, the two overlap and warring states can commit acts of terror and terrorists can commit acts of war.
Work Cited:
Higgins, Andrew. "How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas." The Wall Street Journal. 24 Jan. 2009.<http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB123275572295011847.html>.
"Main Events in Hamas' History." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. The Associated Press, 22 Mar. 2004. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-03-22-hamas-timeline_x.htm>.
"BBC NEWS | Middle East | Intifada Toll 2000-2005." BBC News - Home. 8 Feb. 2005. Web. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3694350.stm>.
Huggler, Justin. "Israel Rejects 'insincere' Hamas Offer of 10-year Truce." The Independent. 27 Jan. 2004. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-rejects-insincere-hamas-offer-of-10year-truce-574542.html>.
"Hamas Renews Offer to End Fight If Israel Withdraws| Reuters." Ed. Kevin Liffey. Reuters News, 30 May 2010. Web. <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64T2AM20100530>.
Erlanger, Steven. "Hamas Routs Ruling Faction, Casting Pall on Peace Process - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 27 Jan. 2006.<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/international/middleeast/27mideast.html?_r=1>.
"Over 600 Palestinians Killed in Internal Clashes since 2006 - Israel News, Ynetnews."Israel News: Ynetnews. 6 June 2007. <http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3409548,00.html>.
"Under Cover of War." Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide. 20 Apr. 2009. Web. <http://www.hrw.org/en/node/82359/section/2>.
"AFP: Hamas Says 300 Fighters Killed in Gaza War." Agence France-Presse, 1 Nov. 2011.<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hF7u6SVbHfZSeLKnM97LlsaGWg_Q?docId=CNG.af5a1cb25e03ecc70924e5a7787c7aa3.831>.
Ethan,
ReplyDeleteI think the most compelling point that you bring up throughout your blog is that Hamas is a government. I have never before thought about the complexity that occurs when government fuses with terrorism.
In light of this complexity, I am impressed that you were able to come up with so many definitions as to what terrorism and warfare are in relation to the Hamas government. However, I think that a major part of the issue is that there are no clear-cut answers. The states that support Hamas obviously see it in a different way than states that do not support Hamas, thus altering the definition of warfare and terror to their own interests. Rather than terror and warfare as an overlap, I think those that are against it consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and states or people that support Hamas say that they are merely engaging in warfare against an enemy.