The Hamas-Israeli conflict

HAMAS, THE acronym for harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah, and which means Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded in 1987. It is a militant Palestinian nationalist and Islamist movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that is dedicated to the establishment of an independent Islamic state in Palestine, which includes lands on which Israel was established in 1948.

Since then, many militant groups and leaders, and the entire Arab League, have been trying to annihilate the Zionist state of Israel. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is one such group. From the late 1970s, activists connected with it have established a network of charities, clinics, and schools in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, occupied by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War. Its activities took a general non-violent approach, but a number of small groups in the occupied territories began to call for jihad, or holy war, against Israel.

PALESTINIAN LIBERATION ORGANIZATION

At the beginning of the Palestinian intifada (uprising) against the Israeli occupation, in December 1987, Hamas was established by some members of the Muslim Brotherhood and religious factions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and the new organisation quickly gained traction and a multitude of followers.

In a 1988 charter, Hamas made it clear that Palestine, being an Islamic homeland, would never surrender to non-Muslims, and that the jihad would be used to drive Israel out of Palestine as a religious duty for Palestinian Muslims. This rhetoric brought Hamas into a major disagreement with the PLO, which had recognised Israel’s right to exist that same year.

Eventually, Hamas started to do things without consulting other Palestinian organisations, creating tension between itself and its secular nationalist counterparts. Its attacks on civilian and military targets inspired Israel to arrest a number of Hamas leaders, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the movement’s founder, in 1989.

SUICIDE BOMBERS

From the start, Hamas rejected negotiations that would cede any land to Israel. The group denounced the 1993 peace agreement between Israel and the PLO and, along with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, it used suicide bombers to kill members of the PLO and Israelis, who responded with much more force than Hamas could exert, although PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat, included Hamas by appointing Hamas members to leadership positions in the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The collapse of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in September 2000 led to an increase in violence that came to be known as the Al-Aqsa intifada. That conflict was marked by a degree of violence unseen in the first intifada, and Hamas activists further escalated their attacks on Israel and engaged in a number of suicide bombings in Israel itself. In the years after the Aqsa intifada, Hamas began to weigh its attitude towards the peace process.

In early 2005, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the PA, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced a suspension of hostilities as Israel prepared to withdraw troops from some Palestinian territories. After much negotiation, Hamas agreed to the ceasefire, although sporadic violence continued. Later that year, Israel unilaterally dismantled settlements in Gaza and withdrew troops from the Strip.

SURPRISE VICTORY

In the 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hamas won a surprise victory over Fatah, capturing the majority of seats. The two groups eventually formed a coalition government, with Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas as prime minister. After more tension between the two, Hamas was left in control of the Gaza Strip while a Fatah-led emergency Cabinet took control of the West Bank.

When Hamas took over the governance of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel declared the Gaza Strip under Hamas a hostile entity and approved a series of sanctions that included power cuts, heavily restricted imports, and border closures. Hamas attacks on Israel continued, as did Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Over the years, the narratives between Hamas and Israel have been replete with rocket launches, airstrikes, Israel’s ground campaigns in Gaza, ceasefires, suicide bombings of school buses and bus stops, truces, broken agreements, distrust, the arrests and killings of Hamas leaders (including the head of the Izz al-Dan al-Qassam Forces, Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari), the arbitrary murder of Arab and Israeli civilians, hundreds of deaths on both sides, thousands of casualties, reprisals, protests, etc.

DEADLIEST DAY FOR ISRAEL

But nobody, not even the Israelis with their much-vaunted Iron Dome defence system, was prepared by any stretch of the imagination for what unfolded on Saturday, October 7, 2023. Hamas launched a coordinated land, sea, and air assault on Israel for several hours. Instead of fighting from afar, they went into Israel itself. At least 1,400 Israelis were reported to have been killed in the attack, the deadliest day for Israel since its Independence, and over 200 Israelis were taken hostage. Israel responded swiftly and devastatingly.

For the past four weeks, Israel has been relentless in its bombing of facilities and residences, in a zeal to eradicate Hamas from the Gaza Strip. Despite much worldwide condemnations of Israel and its prime minister, the bombings have been going on non-stop. Up to press time, over 9,000 Palestinians, half of whom were women and children, have been killed, and over 33,000 are injured. Hundreds of buildings in Gaza are now rubble, under which it is suspected are some bodies. Many people are missing. Is this the end of Hamas? Time will tell. For now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, “It’s a time for war”.