Evaluating Hamas' Struggle in Palestine.

• Author: Uslu, Nasuh
• Position: ARTICLE - Report

Introduction

As a state-like and armed non-state actor, Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, Islamic Resistance Movement) has a complex identity. Since its foundation in 1987, the organization has been a dominant actor in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict due to its ongoing combat against Israel. However, the organization's military combat and political activities have had intra-community, regional, and international implications. Domestically, Hamas is now contending with its main Palestinian rival, Fatah, and striving to meet the needs of the Gazan population. Meanwhile, Israel's pressure on Palestine has risen due to Hamas' armed resistance and hardline politics. The group's militant image also threatens to undermine sympathy and support for the Palestinian cause. However, a non-state armed group such as Hamas would inevitably come into being since Palestine is under Israeli occupation. Hamas is not the first Palestinian armed group, and if current circumstances continue unchanged, it will not be the last one that opts to fight to find a solution to the conflict. However, whether fighting is the correct way to realize a non-state actor's goals is questionable.

This article analyzes Hamas' military and political struggle, and questions whether the group could handle the conflict per its ideals. As one of the main actors on the Palestinian side, the group's military, political, social, and international policies directly affect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and vice versa. Hamas has had a direct impact on what the Palestinians have gained and lost since the beginning of its active role in the century-old conflict. Moreover, how Hamas has transformed itself in the course of time is directly related to the conflict. By analyzing the views of Hamas officials as expressed in interviews, this study will argue that, in political terms, the group has not gained what it expected at the beginning of the venture and will likely withdraw from politics, if only partially. The group seems to have somewhat minimized its objectives and may maintain its cause through fighting.

This article will mainly focus on whether Hamas has been able to carry the burden of the conflict. In addition to using official documents and secondary sources, the authors interviewed five top Palestinian officials with pseudonyms Zakariyya Yasin, Mahmoud Saeed, Yasir Ali, Nasser Mustafa, and Muhammed Hamdi. The first two sections will present brief background information regarding the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how Hamas responded to the conflict militarily and politically. The following sections will examine the results of Hamas' military and political venture.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Organized and formal attempts to found a Jewish homeland began in earnest when Jewish intellectuals and businessmen accepted the decision to create a Jewish nation-state in Palestine during the first World Zionist Congress held in 1897. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) encouraged European Jews to immigrate to Palestine and contacted the Ottoman Sultan for permission to settle systematically in Palestine. As Sultan Abdulhamid II categorically opposed the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, they turned to the British government and received a proposal called the 'Uganda Scheme,' which proposed granting a homeland to Jews in the Uasin Gishu region of modern Kenya. Needless to say, the WZO refused it. As Jewish lobbyers put pressure on the British government during the First World War, they eventually obtained a legal promise for a Jewish state in Palestine through the Balfour Declaration in 1917. (1) The British decision favoring a Jewish homeland was shocking for Arabs rebelling against the Ottoman Empire, since the same lands had been promised to them as well. This two-faced policy led to clashes between Palestinians and Jews until the end of the British Mandate.

In 1945, the British declared that they would give up their obligations in Palestine; thus the United Nations formed a committee that eventually advised the partition of Palestine into two states in 1947. The UN General Assembly passed Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine, on November 29, 1947. According to the resolution, 56 percent of the territory would be given to Jews on the assumption of more Jewish immigration in upcoming years. (2) Since the Jewish population was only 31 percent (589,341) of the total population at that time, Arabs furiously refused the decision. (3) The Jews proclaimed the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Refusing a Jewish state on the Palestinian lands, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq declared war against Israel but lost since Israel was well-prepared, well-equipped, and outnumbered the Arabs in terms of combat force. Therefore, after the war that left 15,000 casualties, Israel controlled 78 percent of the Palestinian lands while Jordan annexed the West Bank and Egypt took over the Gaza Strip. (4) In other words, the State of Palestine was partitioned by belligerent countries including Arab states, and was thereby born dead.

The Arab countries and Israel fought two more wars after the War of Independence. In 1967, Israel defeated the Arabs in the Six-Day War through a sudden and unexpected attack on Egyptian air forces. Israel seized Sinai and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria during the war. (5) The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) then passed Resolution 242, which declared the new Israeli occupations illegal. (6) In October 1973, Anwar Sadat's Egypt attacked Israel on Yom Kippur to take the latter off guard and achieved some early and temporary military victories. Yet Egypt was defeated again thanks to help from the U.S. and steadfast Israeli resilience. Following this war, Anwar Sadat withdrew from the Arab-Palestinian cause and recognized Israel in return for getting Sinai back from Israel in accordance with the Camp David Agreement of 1979.

The Palestinians became desperate in the 1970s. Left alone against Israel and unable to control Palestinian lands, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) had to relocate its headquarters to Jordan until it had a war with the Jordanian army and was defeated by it. It then moved to South Lebanon and attacked Israeli forces from there. The Israeli army retaliated by invading Lebanon in 1982 and expelling the Palestinian armed groups, some of which went to Tunisia. In 1987, not militants but ordinary Palestinian people ignited an uprising against Israel, which was called the First Intifada; it led to the death of 1,500 Palestinians and 422 Israelis. This first concerted effort of civil disobedience continued for several years and helped Palestine rise to the top of the agenda of world politics and to obtain the sympathy of world public opinion. (7)

After the First Intifada, Israel and Palestine decided to try for a peaceful solution through the Oslo Accords in 1993. According to the agreement, Israel would withdraw from Gaza and some parts of the West Bank and Palestinian self-government would be allowed. The Palestinian side, in return, would recognize the State of Israel. However, the accords did not address the serious problems between the two people. (8) The withdrawal took longer than required and Palestine's status did not improve in comparison with the pre-Oslo period. The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish fanatic halted the progress and led Israel to pursue an irreconcilable attitude toward the Palestinians. On September 28, 2000, when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited holy Masjid al-Aqsa with his guards and used ugly words about the mosque, Palestinians took the streets and commenced the Second Intifada, which would last until 2005 and culminate in the death of 3,682 Palestinians and 69 Israelis. (9)

This much bloodier Palestinian uprising led to more intensified Hamas attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings, and increased the group's popularity among Palestinians. In 2006, Hamas won the general elections by winning 60.6 percent of the votes. This unexpected result was used as an excuse by Israel to blockade Gaza from land and sea, as Hamas did not accept its terms. (10) In 2007, the Fatah-Hamas conflict broke out, dividing the Palestinian Authority (PA) into two. After Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expelled Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh from office, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip while Fatah continued to control the West Bank. The separation was not peaceful, causing deaths on both sides.

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