We’ve received a lot of questions about what Hamas is and why it was created the term Hamas is actually an Arabic acronym it translates to the Islamic resistance movement it’s an organization that is dedicated to islamist principles and the creation of a state ruled by Islam
Within the last decade Canada the US the UK Israel and other countries have all designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in part because of its violent tactics and ideology such as its use of suicide bombers several Hamas officials have said the group’s goal is to eradicate Israel and established an
Islamic State in historic Palestine we’ll unpack that history a little later first Hamas emerged as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s the Muslim Brotherhood was formed in 1928 in Egypt and also Advocates an islamist political ideology Muslim Brotherhood is a conservative islamist group usually
Very anti-left an opponent of a lot of socialist organizations in the Arab world prior to hamas’s Creation though there was a small group of Muslim Brotherhood members mostly in Gaza who followed this ideology but they weren’t yet involved in the movement to liberate Palestinians that movement was mostly
Led by secular groups that were jointly known as the Palestinian Liberation Organization or the PLO the PLO was the umbrella under which all of the main Palestinian groups operated for decades it was led by yaser Arafat and in the 1960s the PLO stated in its Charter that Palestine should be established as an
Arab State and zionists should be driven out of the region while the PLO was at odds with Israel in trying to achieve these goals members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza appear to be focusing on religious and charitable activities for that reason they were aided by Israel as sort of a
Counterbalance against the leadership of the PLO but in December 1987 they take this leap of wanting to find a militant organization so a meeting in the house of Sheik Ahmed Yasin and Yasin founded Hamas in 1987 during the first interfa that was a Palestinian Uprising throughout the West Bank Gaza and East
Jerusalem it lasted until the early 1990s it was then that Hamas challenged the secular group The PLO and called for in its 1988 Charter the oblit itation of Israel and the creation of an islamist state of Palestine through violent means something that Hamas officials say they’re still trying to achieve during
This Ono war in the late ‘ 80s the PLO said they were willing to negotiate with Israel first by acknowledging the state of Palestine then by acknowledging the state of Israel this started the peace process known as the Oslo Accords which was signed in 1993 and 1995 and created
The Palestinian Authority the political arm of the PLO under that deal the Palestinian Authority was first given limited control in Gaza and the West Bank to govern control was broken down into three areas there was also a plan to start the formation of a Palestinian State alongside Israel known as the
Two-state solution but it was never realized and Hamas did not support this two-state solution this historian says throughout the 1990s Hamas did everything they could to disrupt the peace process Israel clamped down on Palestinian protests and civilians were killed on both sides of the conflict all of which inflamed anger in the
Territories and led to the second in Hamas act by Islamic Republic of Iran together with Palestinian Islam Jad they have a very important role in this in 2004 Arafat died and two years later Palestinian elections took place both in the West Bank and Gaza the PLO was unpopular because it hadn’t followed
Through with the peace process it was also accused of being corrupt Hamas won the most seats by a small margin beating out the Rival the PLO Affiliated fata Party by 2007 Hamas broke with fata and the PLO all together and seized unilateral control of Gaza leaving fataa
In power in the West Bank this led Israel with the help of Egypt to impose wide- ranging restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza Israel also built a 65 km security barrier around Gaza it included radar systems Maritime sensors and underground senses to detect militant
Tunnels the combination of the barrier and the blockade have led many to describe Gaza as an open air prison and there have been no elections in Gaza since then there are two main groups that govern Palestinians the Palestinian Authority which operates in the West Bank and Hamas which governs in Gaza and
Also has an armed Wing called the alasan Brigade in 2017 Hamas M rewrote its 1988 Charter and softened some of its language but azy says it still holds some anti-semitic views and advocates for violence to achieve its goals Hamas has always had different wings with widely estated different goals that’s
What it makes it a hard organization to understand sometimes today Hamas still operates out of Gaza but also has leaders Living in Qatar and Lebanon there is a distinction between the political leadership outside Gaza the attack by all accounts was organized solely by those inside the politicians
Outside are in some ways playing catchup since the surprise attacks on October 7th in Israel a Hamas official said in an interview on lebanon’s LBC TV that the group will repeat the attack time and again until Israel is annihilated his statement was translated by the Middle East media Research Institute and
In another more recent interview with the New York Times a Hamas member said hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such he went on to say that the Hamas resistance woke the world up from its deep sleep share your questions with us
In the comments comments
A spotlight was cast on the Islamist militant group Hamas after it unleashed a surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages. How did the group come to be designated a terrorist organization and rule Gaza? CBC’s Ashley Fraser explores its origins.
»»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos:
Connect with CBC News Online:
For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage:
Find CBC News on Facebook:
Follow CBC News on Twitter:
For breaking news on Twitter:
Follow CBC News on Instagram:
Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat:
Download the CBC News app for iOS:
Download the CBC News app for Android:
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.
