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Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry - Jerusalem
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IDF Spokesman
January 1993
HAMAS - The Islamic Resistance Movement
1. GENERAL BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
The HAMAS (in Arabic, an acronym for "Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia" --
Islamic Resistance Movement -- and a word meaning courage and bravery) is
a radical Islamic fundamentalist organization which became active in the
early stages of the intifada, operating primarily in the Gaza District but
also in Judea and Samaria. The HAMAS has played a major role in violent
fundamentalist subversion and radical terrorist operations against both
Israelis and Arabs, and employs its own "shock troops" ("Al-Suad
Al-Ramaya" -- the "throwing arm") for these purposes. The HAMAS makes
frequent use of radical Islamic motifs, both in order to broaden its ranks
and as a weapon against those whom it defines as its enemies. In its
initial period, the movement was headed primarily by people identified
with the Muslim Brotherhood in the territories.
In the period prior to the intifada, the religious-social "Al-Majama
Al-Islami" association in the Gaza District was an important source for
the recruitment of radical Islamic elements for the covert terrorist
activity of the HAMAS. Many senior members of "Al-Majama" emerged with the
outbreak of the intifada as central figures in the HAMAS leadership. They
used the existing infrastructure of the association as a basis for
semi-covert activity, including the preaching of inflammatory sermons in
mosques and the distribution of religious and political leaflets. The
HAMAS movement also goes by several other names, which are used primarily
to denote the semi-covert activity carried out by its supporters in the
territories. Most of these names include the word "Islam", for example:
the Islamic Stream ("Al-Tiar Al-Islami"), or the Islamic Trend ("Al-Athja
Al-Islami").
In the course of the intifada, HAMAS gained momentum, expanding its
activity also in Judea and Samaria to become the dominant Islamic
Fundamentalist organization in the territories. It defined its highest
priority as actual Jihad (holy war) for the liberation of Palestine and
the establishment of an Islamic Palestine "from the Mediterranean Sea to
the Jordan River". By its participation in street violence and murder, it
boosted its appeal in the eyes of the Palestinians, further enhancing its
growth potential and enabling it to play a central role in the intifada.
As a result of its subversive and terrorist activity, HAMAS was outlawed
in September 1989.
Today, HAMAS is the second most powerful group in the territories, after
FATAH. Its influence is felt in all aspects of daily life, and it serves
as a lodestone for extremist elements. It is currently the strongest
opposition group to the peace process, and is sometimes viewed as
threatening the hegemony of the secular nationalists.
In the course of the past year, HAMAS has become the leading perpetrator
of terrorist activity, second only to FATAH. HAMAS engages in terrorist
activity throughout the territories as well as inside the Green Line. It
also engages in violent clashes with Palestinian rivals, such as the
recent confrontation with FATAH members in the Gaza District in July 1992.
Throughout the intifada, there have been many such encounters, in which
HAMAS rallied hundreds of people into the streets, some of them armed with
guns.
2. IDEOLOGY AND GOALS
The basic ideology of HAMAS is founded primarily on the mainstream of the
Muslim Brotherhood. In the Islamic Covenant published by HAMAS in August
1988, it defined itself as the "Palestinian branch of the Muslim
Brotherhood".
However, there is a clear distinction in the order of priorities set forth
by HAMAS, as opposed to those of the Muslim Brotherhood in the territories
prior to the intifada, particularly as regards the question of Jihad. The
Muslim Brotherhood in the territories viewed Jihad as a general duty and
principle. It maintained that Islam would be established first throughout
the Muslim world, only later to be followed by violent Jihad against
Israel, in which Palestine, too, would be liberated. HAMAS, on the other
hand, stresses Jihad as the sole and immediate means to solve the problem
of Palestine.
HAMAS defines the transition to the stage of Jihad "for the liberation of
all of Palestine" as a personal religious duty incumbent upon every
Muslim. At the same time, it utterly rejects any political arrangement
that would entail the relinquishment of any part of Palestine, which for
it ss tantamout to a surrender of part of Islam. These positions are
reflected in the HAMAS Covenant, which was written in the territories, and
of course in its activities.
The central goal of HAMAS is the establishment of an Islamic state in all
of Palestine. The immediate means to achieve this goal is the escalation
of the intifada, and ultimately all-out Jihad, with the participation not
only of Palestinian Muslims but of the entire Islamic world.
3. STRUCTURE
The structure of HAMAS in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria is based on a
combination of regional and functional organization. In this framework,
several identical, parallel frameworks operate in each region:
a. Infrastructure ("Dawa", literally "sermonizing"), which engages in
recruitment, distribution of funds, and appointments.
b. Popular violence in the framework of the intifada.
c. Security ("Aman") -- the gathering of information on suspected
collaborators with the authorities. This information is passed on to the
"shock committees", who interrogate and then kill the suspects.
d. Publications ("A-'Alam") -- leaflets, propaganda, press offices.
HAMAS tries to maintain a clear distinction between the covert activity of
its various sections and its overt activity, which serves primarily to
broaden the ranks of the movement. The major reason for this is HAMAS'
desire to increase departmentalization and secrecy, by not identifying
itself directly with its public activity. The term generally used by HAMAS
to define its overt activity is "Dawa" -- meaning, literally,
"sermonizing". This term is also the name given to the HAMAS section whose
function is to broaden the movement's infrastructure, to distribute funds
and make appointments. In fact, there is a large degree of overlapping (if
not total identity) between the two.
[Mahmud Rumhi, a senior HAMAS operative from Ramallah who was recently
arrested and questioned, defined the Dawa as an apparatus separate from
HAMAS, whose function is to create an organizational basis in the mosques
and other institutions. According to him, it is a multifaceted
organization which maintains direct contact with Ibrahim 'Usha in Jordan,
who serves as a spokesman of HAMAS. He also said that there is no direct
link between HAMAS and the charity associations. (Here it should be noted
that, alongside his senior position in HAMAS, Rumhi, a doctor by
profession, also manages the medical center of the charity association in
Ramallah and serves as a representative of the London-based Aid Fund for
Lebanon and Palestine, which transfers funds to charity associations in
the territories affiliated with HAMAS.)]
A recent internal HAMAS publication explains the three spheres of Islamic
activity, while encouraging greater activity in two: Jihad and public
activity. Specifically, it enjoins its followers to become members of
existing trade unions and philanthropic associations and to found new ones
on order to serve the goals of the movement.
Thus, HAMAS is an organization composed of several interdependent levels.
The popular-social base is maintained materially by the charity committees
and ideologically through instruction, propaganda and incitement delivered
in the mosques and other institutions and through leaflets. This base is
the source for the recruitment of members into the units which engage in
riots and popular violence. Those who distinguish themselves in riots and
popular violence sooner or later find their way into the military
apparatus, which carries out brutal and violent attacks against Israelis
and Palestinians alike. The latter (and their families and relatives, if
they are arrested or killed) enjoy the moral and economic backing of the
preachers in the mosques, the directors of HAMAS-affiliated institutions,
and the charity committees.
4. INTIFADA ACTIVITY
HAMAS began to operate in the territories at the beginning of the
intifada, at first primarily in the Gaza District and later increasingly
also in Judea and Samaria. It claims credit for the outbreak of the
intifada and played a major part in its escalation. The organization of
HAMAS and its rapid integration into subversive intifada activity was
facilitated by the role played by central figures of the "Al-Majama
Al-Islami" and by its broad and well-organized base of supporters.
HAMAS activity in the course of the intifada can be characterized mainly
as follows:
a. The concentration of a major part of its activity around the mosques.
As spiritual centers which enjoyed relative immunity from the Israeli
authorities, these served as convenient locations. Moreover, many HAMAS
operatives serve as religious functionaries in the mosques. HAMAS uses the
mosques as recruitment centers to broaden its ranks, as a focus for
extremist incitement, disturbances and demonstrations, as a center for the
distribution of leaflets, and as a venue for organizing terrorist attacks.
b. The publication and distribution of leaflets, which serve as a tool for
incitement to riot, defining strategy, and instructing the general public,
including setting days for memorials and general strikes. The HAMAS
leaflets are radical in content and virulent in their wording. Most
include verses from the Koran and play on extremist Islamic religious
feeling. The major themes are:
1) Preaching Jihad as a means to establish an Islamic state in all of
Palestine, while rejecting the right of the State of Israel ("the Zionist
entity") to exist.
2) A call to continue and escalate the violent struggle.
c. The use of "shock troops" ("Al-Suad Al-Ramaya" -- the "throwing arm")
for the violent enforcement of HAMAS directives, such as the boycott of
Israeli goods, preventing workers from the territories from going to work
in Israel, and enforcing strikes.
During the period prior to the intifada, HAMAS members (in its earlier
form of the "Al-Majama Al-Islami") operated primarily against local
Palestinians, such as moral offenders and criminal elements, in order to
purge Muslim society and to prepare it for Jihad against Israel. After the
outbreak of the intifada, the same people and new recruits began to
assassinate Palestinians. In the course of the intifada, HAMAS operatives
have admitted to 43 such attacks, in which 46 Palestinians were killed. On
the basis of intelligence information, about 40 more murders of
Palestinians can be attributed to HAMAS members.
In the course of the intifada, HAMAS operatives also began to carry out
terrorist attacks against Israeli targets, escalating in nature. At first
they resorted primarily to explosive charges and other 'popular' means
(firebombs, arson and other property damage). In the course of 1989, they
kidnapped and murdered two soldiers (Avi Sasportas and Ilan Sa'adon). In
December 1990, three Israelis employed in a Jaffa factory were murdered.
In 1992, HAMAS operatives displayed even greater daring, especially
members of the Iz Al-Din Al-Kassam squads, who fired on security personnel
at short range, stabbed two Jews to death in a packing plant in the Gaza
District, kidnapped and killed Nissim Toledano, and finally murdered a GSS
handler in a safehouse in Jerusalem. These HAMAS 'successes' naturally
encouraged members of other organization to try and emulate and even
surpass them.
In the past year, the number of attacks carried out by HAMAS members has
risen dramatically, making it the second most important terrorist
organization, after FATAH, and the leading organization in the murder of
Israelis by gunfire. From the beginning of the intifada (December 9, 1987)
until December 1992, 20 Israelis and one Jewish tourist were killed in
HAMAS attacks. During this period, they also assassinated close to 100
Palestinian residents of the territories.
The leaflets written and prepared by the HAMAS leadership as well as the
sermons preached by its operatives in the mosques have played an important
role in these attacks. Thus, periodical HAMAS leaflets calling for a
"revolution of knives" have been found on the persons of HAMAS members who
stabbed Israelis. Recent HAMAS leaflets call for the use of guns against
both security personnel and civilians.
The monthly HAMAS leaflets serve as a major tool for clarifying its
positions, handing down directives, and incitement -- including riots and
attacks against Jews -- with the ultimate goal being the destruction of
Israel through holy war. The leaflets of the movement make extensive use
of Islamic motifs, interlaced with virulent accusations against the Jews,
"the offspring of apes and pigs". Almost all of them end with a call for
"Jihad until victory, or martyrdom for the sake of Allah". There has
recently been increasing cooperation of the movement with other
organizations opposed to the peace process, and they have published joint
leaflets against the peace process.
5. LEADERSHIP
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, headed HAMAS until his arrest in May 1989, was
responsible for most of the movement's activities: the writing of
leaflets, financial affairs, liaison with radical Islamic elements abroad,
and supervision of violent and terrorist activity. Under him, a broad
organizational network was set up, comprising various functions and local
leaders, which directed the political and intifada-related work of the
movement: distributing leaflets, organizating riots, enforcing strikes,
etc.
Following the arrest of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other leading operatives
from the Gaza District, the centralized HAMAS leadership in the
territories was weakened. It was replaced by a backbone of senior
leaders/operatives identified with the movement, who directed its activity
in the different regions. They focused primarily on politics, propapagnda,
infrastructure, and inter-organizational liaison, while competing with
Palestinian nationalists for for election to positions of power in various
bodies (such as trade unions). Among the leading figures are Mahmoud
Alzhar, Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Hamed Bitawi. Prominent religious leaders
identified with HAMAS have recently formed the Association of Religious
Sages of Palestine ("Rabtath 'Alma Falestin"), which is to serve as a kind
of supreme religious framework and to accord the movement 'legitimacy'
through religious rulings that conform with the movement's ideology.
HAMAS leaders residing abroad -- in Arab countries (primarily Jordan) and
in the West (the U.S., Britain, and others) -- have also recently gained
prominence. In this context we should note the movement's growing ties
with Iran.
6. FINANCING
HAMAS enjoys strong financial backing. In fact, tts rivals claim that this
is major reason for its strength. HAMAS receives financial support from
unofficial bodies in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, and recently also
from Iran. The amount of money which reaches HAMAS operatives in Judea,
Samaria and Gaza annually is estimated at one million dollars. These funds
are distributed among the various groups and associations identified with
the movement, and from them filter down to the operatives in the field.
A broad network of charity associations ("Jamayath Hiriya") and committees
("Lejan Zekath") operates in the territories, on the basis of two
Jordanian statutes: the Charity Association and Social Institutions Law,
and the Charity Fund-Raising Regulations. HAMAS makes extensive use of
many of these charity associations and committees, which (together with
the mosques, unions, etc.) also serve as the overt facade of the
organization's activity, operating parallel to and serving its covert
operations. The movement's ideology (like that of its mother organization,
the Muslim Brotherhood) attributes great importance to the giving of
charity ("zekath", which is also one of the five basic principles of
Islam). Giving charity can serve to bring the people closer to Islam --
and, as a result, to broaden the ranks of HAMAS.
The network of charity associations serves as a screen for its covert
activities, including liaison with the movement's leadership abroad, the
transfer of funds to field operatives, and the identification of potential
recruits. The great importance which HAMAS attaches to the overt aspect of
its operations -- charity and welfare -- has been particularly evident
since the extensive arrest and exclusion of many of its operatives.
An important aspect of the charity associations and committees is their
role as a means for the channeling of funds into the region. While part of
these funds is in fact used for charity, it is not always possible to
distinguish between the 'innocent' activity of the charity associations
and the funding of covert, subversive and terrorist activity. Thus, for
example, the associations pay fines and assist the families of operatives
who are arrested, or the operatives themselves. Such donations are defined
as charity, but are in fact given to the hard and active core of HAMAS.
The charity associations can also help in transfering funds to HAMAS
through their financial-administrative infrastructure.
The methods commonly used to transfer funds are through moneychangers,
checks drawn on accounts of operatives and firms abroad, foreign business
accounts of economic concerns in the territories, and direct cash
transfers from abroad, usually through Western banks (in Britain, the U.S.
and Germany). The Islamic Movement in Israel also serves as a channel for
the transfer of funds. Most of this money, as far as can be determined,
comes from two Islamic welfare organizations abroad (affiliated with
HAMAS), though we do not know what their sources are (recent informatÿion
indicates that some money comes from Iran). Such transfers of funds
constitute criminal offenses, involving the violation of fiscal and tax
laws.
7. OPPOSITION TO THE PEACE PROCESS
The teachings of HAMAS utterly reject the peace process, which involves
the surrender of "Islamic land" and the recognition of Israel's right to
exist on this land. HAMAS has therefore become an important element in the
coalition of those opposed to this process -- a coalition formed before
the convening of the Madrid Conference. HAMAS has recently become the
moving spirit among those opposed to the peace process. It called for a
general protest strike in the territories on September 23, 1992 and
responded strongly to the dissatisfaction and fears expressed by senior
FATAH members associated with the peace process.
Central to the alternatives to the peace process presented by HAMAS is the
call to escalate the intifada, including the use of firearms, well-trained
military activity, and the implementation of Jihad.
8. MILITARY ARM
From the outset, alongside the "popular" intifada-related violence on the
street level, HAMAS operated a military-terrorist arm, composed of two
groups:
a. The Palestinian Holy Fighters ("Al-Majahadoun Al-Falestinioun"), a
military apparatus for terrorist attacks, especially against Israeli
targets. Before the outbreak of the intifada, it engaged primarily in the
preparation of the infrastructure for its activity.
b. The Security Section ("Jehaz Aman"), which gathered information on
suspected collaborators with Israel and other local elements, with the
intention of punishing them by the use of violence, including murder. To
this end, units were formed within the framework of the "MAJD" -- an
Arabic acronym for "Majmouath Jihad u-Dawa" - Holy War and Sermonizing
Group), which was in effect the violent operational arm of the Security
Section.
In the course of the intifada, these groups took on various forms, the
latest of which being the Iz al-Din al-Kassam hit squads.
"Al-Majahadoun Al-Falestinioun"
The groundwork for the founding of "Al-Majahadoun Al-Falestinioun" was
laid in 1982 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, together with several operatives of
"Al-Majama". This included arms procurement and laying the groundwork for
the struggle against Palestinian rivals, to be used later also against
Israel. This activity was uncovered in 1984, and Yassin was sentenced to
13 years in prison but was released shortly afterwards as part of the
Jibril prisoner exchange (May 1985).
Upon his release, Yassin resumed his work of setting up a military
apparatus. At first, emphasis was placed on the struggle against
'heretics' and collaborators, in accordance with the view of the Muslim
Brotherhood that Jihad should come only after the purging of rivals from
within. At the same time, a military infrastructure was prepared,
including the stockpiling of weapons for the war against Israel. Shortly
before the outbreak of the intifada, operatives were recruited to carry
out the military Jihad. Organized military activity by this group,
including regular terrorist attacks, became manifest only after the
beginning of the intifada.
Following the outbreak of the intifada, the military apparatus carried out
a large number of attacks of various kinds, including bombs and gunfire,
mostly in the northern part of the Gaza District. These attacks reached
their climax with the kidnapping and murder of IDF soldiers Avi Sasportas
(February 1989) and Ilan Sa'adon (May 1989).
The Security Section and the "MAJD" Units
The Security Section ("Jehaz Aman") was established in early 1986 by
Sheikh Yassin together with two of his associates, who were also active in
"Al-Majama". The role of the section was to conduct surveillance of
suspected collaborators and other Palestinians who acted in a manner which
ran counter to the principles of Islam (drug dealers, sellers of
pornography, etc.). In late 1986 - early 1987, on the recommendation of
the two heads of the security section, Yassin decided to set up hit
squads, known as "MAJD", whose purpose was to kill 'heretics' and
collaborators. Yassin instructed the leaders that they must kill anyone
who admitted under interrogation to being a collaborator, and reinforced
this instruction with a religious ruling.
This mode of action continued until the outbreak of the intifada, when
HAMAS' approach underwent significant changes, leading to the beginning of
organized military action against Israeli targets as well. The "MAJD"
units then became part of the "Al-Majahadoun" network.
The "Iz Al-Din Al-Kassam" Squads
The military apparatus of HAMAS underwent several changes in the course of
the intifada, as a result of preventive measures and exposure by the
Israeli forces following major terrorist attacks carried out by HAMAS
operatives. The last form which this apparatus has taken is the "Iz Al-Din
Al-Kassam" Squads, which is responsible for most of the serious attacks
carried out by HAMAS since January 1, 1992. These squads include dozens of
wanted suspects from Gaza. In the course of the year, some of these
suspects began to operate in Judea and Samaria as well, while recruiting
Palestinians from Judea and Samaria to carry out attacks inside the Green
Line (the murder of a border guard in Jerusalem and the planting of a car
bomb in Ramat Efal). Some members of these squads have been apprehended or
killed, and some have fled to Egypt. Today, several dozen HAMAS operatives
remain active in the territories, most of them members of the "Iz Al-Din
Al-Kassam" squads.
.