Hamas (arapski: حماس Hamās, akronim od arapski: حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Harakat al-muqāwama al-islāmiyya, što približno znači "Islamski pokret otpora", dok se taj izraz u arapskom koristi za "oduševljenje") je palestinska nacionalna islamska organizacija[1] sa vojnim krilom zvanim Brigade Izzudin el-Kasam odana islamističkim principima koju Evropska unija, SAD i dosta drugih zemalja svijeta smatraju terorističkim udruženjem. Usko je povezana sa muslimanskim bratstvom. Njen proklamovirani cilj je "uništenje cionističke i vještačke tvorevine države Izraela" i "uspostavljanje palestinske države na tom okupiranom području, kao i na područjima Gaze i Zapadne obale". U novijoj historiji je poznata i uspješno djeluje kao politička partija u palestinskim autonomnim oblastima. U januaru 2006, ova grupa je pobijedila na palestinskim parlamentarnim izborima, gdje je osvajanjem apsolutne većine mandata u parlamentu, zbacila sa vlasti do tada vladajuću frakciju Fatah. Poslije krvavih unutrašnjih borbi sa Fatahom preuzima kontrolu nad pojasom Gaze dok Fatah ostaje u kontroli Zapadne obale. Od 2007. godine upravlja pojasom Gaze koji je okupirao Izrael.[2][3]
Pokret Hamas je osnovao palestinski islamski učenjak Ahmed Jasin 1987, nakon izbijanja Prve intifade protiv izraelske okupacije. To je proizašlo iz njegove islamske dobrotvorne organizacije Mujama el-Islamija iz 1973. povezane s Muslimanskim bratstvom.[4] Na parlamentarnim izborima 2006. u Palestini, Hamas je osigurao većinu u Palestinskom zakonodavnom vijeću kampanjom na osnovu obećanja o vladi bez korupcije i zalaganjem za otpor kao sredstvo za oslobađanje Palestine od izraelske okupacije.[5][6] U bici za Gazu (2007.), Hamas je preuzeo kontrolu nad pojasom Gaze od rivalske palestinske frakcije Fataha,[7][8] i od tada upravlja teritorijom odvojeno od Palestinskih Autonomnih Područja. Nakon Hamasovog preuzimanja, Izrael je značajno pojačao postojeća ograničenja kretanja i uveo potpunu blokadu pojasa Gaze.[9] Egipat je započeo svoju blokadu Gaze 2007. Nakon toga uslijedilo je više ratova s Izraelom, uključujući one 2008-09, 2012, 2014, 2021. i jedan koji je u toku od 2023, a koji je započeo napadom Hamasa na Izrael 7. oktobra .
Hamas je promovsao palestinski nacionalizam u islamskom kontekstu.[10] Dok je prvobitno tražio državu u cijeloj bivšoj Mandatna Palestina, počeo je pristajati na granice iz 1967. u sporazumima koje je potpisao sa Fatahom 2005, 2006. i 2007.[11][12][13] Hamas je 2017. objavio novu povelju[14] koja podržava palestinsku državu unutar granica iz 1967. bez priznavanja Izraela.[15][16][17] Hamasove ponovljene ponude primirja (na period od 10 do 100 godina[18]) na osnovu granica iz 1967. mnogi vide kao konzistentne sa dvodržavnim rješenjem,[19][20] dok drugi navode da Hamas zadržava dugoročni cilj uspostavljanja jedne države u bivšoj Mandatnoj Palestini.[21][22] Dok je Hamasova povelja iz 1988. naširoko opisana kao antisemitska,[23] Hamasova povelja iz 2017. uklonila je antisemitski jezik i rekla da je Hamasova borba bila sa cionistima, a ne sa Jevrejima.[24][25][26][27] Raspravljalo se da li je povelja odražavala stvarnu promjenu politike.[28]
Što se tiče vanjske politike, Hamas je historijski tražio odnose s Egiptom,[29] Iranom,[29] Katarom,[30] Saudijskom Arabijom,[31] Sirijom[29] i Turskom;[32] neki od njegovih odnosa su bili pod uticajem Arapskog proljeća.[33] Hamas i Izrael su uključeni u dugotrajni oružani sukob. Ključni aspekti sukoba uključuju izraelsku okupaciju Zapadne obale i pojasa Gaze, status Jerusalima, izraelska naselja, granice, prava na vodu,[34] režim dozvola, palestinsku slobodu kretanja,[35] i palestinsko pravo na povratak. Hamas je napao izraelske civile, uključujući samoubilačke napade, kao i lansiranje raketa na izraelske gradove. Brojne zemlje, uključujući Australiju, Kanadu, Izrael, Japan, Novi Zeland, Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo i Sjedinjene Države, proglasile su Hamas terorističkom organizacijom 2018, dok je zahtjev u Ujedinjenim nacijama za osudu Hamasa odbijen.[36]}}[37][38]
The most successful radical Sunni Islamist group has been Hamas, which began as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine in the early 1980s. It used terrorist attacks against civilians - particularly suicide bombings – to help build a larger movement, going so far as to emerge as the recognized government of the Gaza Strip in the Palestine Authority.
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When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank. 'When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a mistake,' says David Hacham, who worked in Gaza in the late 1980s and early '90s as an Arab-affairs expert in the Israeli military. 'But at the time nobody thought about the possible results.' Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the group's recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. 'Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons,' Mr. Olmert said last Saturday. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran.
Even Hamas in 2017 said it was ready to accept a Palestinian state with 1967 borders if it is clear this is the consensus of the Palestinians.
Asher Susser, director of the Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University, conveyed to me in an interview that "Hamas' 'hudna' is not significantly different from Sharon's 'long-term interim agreement." Similarly, Daniel Levy, a senior Israeli official for the Geneva Initiative (GI), informed me that certain Hamas officials find the GI acceptable, but due to the concerns about their Islamically oriented constituency and their own Islamic identity, they would "have to express the final result in terms of a "hudna," or "indefinite" ceasefire," rather than a formal peace agreement."
Hamas too would signal a willingness to accept a long-term "hudna" (cessation of hostilities, truce) along the armistice lines of 1948 (an effective acceptance of the two-state formula).
Strictly speaking, the Hamas Covenant of 1988 focused its anti-Semitic language on Zionists, for example, describing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as the blueprint for the Zionist project (Article 32) and accusing the Zionists of aiming to "annihilate Islam" (Article 28). The May 2017 "Document" continues in this vein, albeit in somewhat less florid language, asserting that "the Zionist project does not target the Palestinian people alone; it is the enemy of the Arabic and Islamic Ummah posing a grave threat to its security and interests. It is also hostile to the Ummah's aspirations for unity, renaissance, and liberation and has been the major source of its troubles. The Zionist project also poses a danger to international security and peace and to mankind…." (#15). As in the 1988 Covenant, the 2017 "Document" merely takes all the classical tropes of anti-Semitism and focuses them on Zionism, noting that "it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity" (#16). In effect, Hamas is saying that it is at war with all Jews except those who are anti-Zionist, thus it is not anti-Semitic. This can hardly be regarded as a serious repudiation of anti-Semitism.
Currently, freedom of movement and access for Palestinians within the West Bank is the exception rather than the norm contrary to the commitments undertaken in a number of Agreements between GOI and the PA. In particular, both the Oslo Accords and the Road Map were based on the principle that normal Palestinian economic and social life would be unimpeded by restrictions
[It has been alleged that] Hamas cynically abuses its own civilian population and their suffering for propaganda purposes.