World News and Trends: Who and what is Hamas?
With such a remarkable victory in the Palestinian elections, many are wondering what this Islamic group stands for.
Political observers were stunned when the Islamic group Hamas won a landslide victory in the Jan. 25 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, putting it at the helm of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and throwing peace prospects into turmoil. So who and what is Hamas?
Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya ("Islamic Resistance Movement"). In Arabic, the word hamas is typically defined as "zeal" or "warlike strength and bravery." Ironically, hamas is also a Hebrew word meaning "violence."
Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, established in Gaza in 1946. Hamas officially formed in 1987. It carried out its first suicide bombing in 1993. Due to its attacks against civilian targets including buses, supermarkets, shopping areas, hotels and restaurants, Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by most Western nations, including the United States and the European Union.
Since the current wave of Palestinian violence began in September 2000, Hamas has launched more than 400 attacks against Israelis, killing almost 400 and injuring more than 2,000. Of these attacks, the most deadly were 52 suicide bombings, including two by women.
In 1988 Hamas published its 9,100-word charter. This declaration of the organization's fundamental principles illustrates why peace is unlikely to break out anytime soon in the Middle East. Some excerpts:
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement . . . strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders."
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
"In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised."
"The Prophet [Muhammad], Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: 'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, "O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."'"
The slogan of Hamas is: "Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Qur'an its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes." (Sources: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wikipedia, the Hamas Charter as translated by the Avalon Project at Yale Law School .)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: March - April 2006
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
