The Palestinian Hamas

Rating:
Summary: Hamas - continuing Palestinian resistance
Review: As Hamas has grown in influence within Palestinian society and has taken the lead in the organised physical resistance to the Israeli occupation, any book that is able to provide an objective analysis of the movement, its goals and tactics is to be much welcomed.

What emerges from this account is a fascinating picture of a complex organisation, which continues to operate in a much more adaptive and pragmatic manner than might be expected by those who see Hamas only as it commonly portrayed in the Western media - hardline, fundamentalist, uncompromising.

The reality is far more complex, as Mishal and Sela show. The details concerning Hamas's internal agonising over whether to participate in the Palestinian elections is an enthralling and detailed example of the different forces at play within Hamas and the sometimes conflicting agendas of the various parts of its leadership.

They also make clear that Hamas is primarily about nationalism and resistance to occupation, rather than a part of some global Islamic movement. Its struggle is strictly defined with the borders of Palestine and has no interest in wider Islamic issues.

What a pity therefore that such an interesting subject and one that the authors clearly know well, should be marred by such stilted and jargon ridden prose. The book clearly suffers from having been written buy two authors with quite different styles. The first and last thirds are fairly painful to read, while the middle section flows reasonably well and carries the reader along. One or both authors has something of an obsession with the use of the word "normative" and sprinkles it liberally throughout. Towards the end of the book I counted six successive paragraphs each of which contained the word, which shows both poor style and bad editing.

One curious aspect of the book is that the authors make little of the fact (although they don't dispute it either) that Israel originally encouraged and facilitated the development and growth of what became Hamas, in order to provide a counterweight to the PLO and to try and divide the Palestinians and thereby deny the PLO its claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. I was at BirZeit University (the leading Palestinian university in the Occupied Territories) when the Israelis helped bus in 'militants' from the Islamic University in Gaza who then attacked students who were aligned with Fatah and the PLO.

It's a startling irony that the Israelis now bombard the Palestinian Authority for failing to 'control' a resistance movement that Israel helped to create in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: A great read for the initiated
Review: For those who have some knowledge of the background of the conflict in the Middle East - this is an excellent read. It is essentially a book which is aimed more at the Middle Eastern Studies student. However, if like me, you are someone who is not one of the latter but who wants to know more - then read some basic background information first and then head into this book. I found it an accessable read and very interesting. Whilst at times I found it a little confusing with its references to peace agreements and events - that was down to my lack of background reading rather than the book itself. Having now read several books on the conflict I will certainly go back to this book to make the most of the information and conclusions it holds.

It achieves what it sets out to do - and that is to reflect the true nature of Hamas - not just as an organization with a reputation for violence, but as an organization which has serious social, educational and religios concerns within Palestinian society. It shows the way in which the organization has adapted to the political changes and certainly gave me much to think about.

Rating:
Summary: Chock Full o' Info but Fails to Achieve its Goal
Review: The authors' primary goal is to enlighten those who are predisposed to mass media's portrayal of Hamas as a violent terrorist organization. Their method is reminiscent of the way in which a psychologist would analyze the social and personal problems faced by a serial murderer. Please indulge me for a few moments:

Serial killers face myriad difficulties in trying to reach their goal of murdering numerous people. Prior to the murder, there are serious social and psychological barriers that must be surmounted. Because they must act in secrecy, serial killers often must become reclusive, informing not even family and friends about their whereabouts. This lack of contact with other humans is psychologically painful, as humans are social beings. During the actual act, the murderer must ensure that everything is performed discreetly and that all evidence is destroyed. After the murder, the serial killer suffers because of the tension between guilt and the serious repercussions of being caught.

Regardless of whether that is an accurate assessment of the state of a serial killer, the method of analysis is apparent. Break the subject and its environment down into analytical components. Identify the causal links between the subject's psychology & environment and the subject's actions, before, during, and after the murder. Suddenly, (though done poorly in my above example) one looks at the serial killer not as a crazed fanatic, but rather as a rational being that has desires and constraints and uses discursive methods to maximize satisfaction of those desires and minimize the aggravation of constraints.

The authors of The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence, and Coexistence, take Hamas and attempt to legitimize it as social movement with a humanitarian cause. What is the cause? "A primary aim of Hamas was to establish an Islamic state in the territory of Palestine whose liberation was to be achieved by holy war" (50). Ok, so what if Israel decides to cede all of it's territory at the negotiating table, except for, let's say, one town: "Hamas thus adopted the principle contained in the PLO's National Charter of 1968, which defined armed struggle as 'a strategy and not a tactic,' in order to preclude the possibility of a negotiated settlement...Because to forgo parts of Palestine was tantmount to forgoin part of Islam, Palestine as a whole could be liberated only by armed struggle." A strategy and not a tactic--war was not a means to an end--war was an END IN ITSELF!

Later, Mishal and Sela discuss the political problems faced by Hamas as they were under pressure from the popular secular-nationalist PLO to stop their combatant behavior. The authors title chapters, "Controlled Violence," "Coexistence [with the PLO/PA] Within Conflict," which describe the political, economic, and social difficulties Hamas had with maintaining their doctrine of the militant liberation of Palestine. Additionally, Hamas gave a significant amount of welfare aid to the Palestinian community. Hamas certainly gives aid to the people because it cares about their well-being, right?

"Hamas decided that it had to maintain its coexistence with the palestinian authrotiy. The rationale for this was clear. An all-out confrontation would bolster the movement's principles and militant image but risk its freedom of action and possibly its very existence. More dangrous yet, it could erode hamas's ability to underwrite social and economic services for the community, regarded as crucial to maintaining its popularity" (103). Like any political group, Hamas acted to ensure that it maintained its popularity. Again, this is a logical step for Hamas to take; it would be logical for any group trying to mobilize its constituents to be supportive. However, the point is that a group's having political sensibility is not an argument for the group's normative acceptance as a humanitarian movement.

They somehow believe that, by showing that Hamas had problems achieving their goals like any other social movement, this somehow delegitimizes the media's portrayal of them as a violent terrorist group. Perhaps the media has not focused on the institutional problems faced by Hamas; it has not focused on welfare provided to the Palestinian community; it has not focused on the difficulty of maintaining jihad doctrine in an environment that is unfavorable to its reception...

But is it really not sensible for the media to look askance at a group whose use of violence is not a means to an end but is an end itself? We're sure Charles Manson had his reasons for doing what he did...we just don't care.

Rating:
Summary: Chock Full o' Info but Fails to Achieve its Goal
Review: Though this is possibly one of the best written works on HAMAS in existence, it certainly is biased with respect to the authors' ideology. Often, it seems as if the authors are attempting to question the credibility of the movement and its leaders while taking shots at them. If you "read between the lines" then you will gain some insight into the precarious situation that the Palestinian Authority faces and why civil war will erupt if the PA takes action against militant organizations such as HAMAS. The complex interplay between politics and religion is also covered in depth, and the flexibility of the HAMAS movement is astounding, especially how the group was able to survive after the Oslo Accords. While the length of this book is somewhat short, it is comprehensive and is good research material if you wish to gain an understanding of a complex situation.

Rating:
Summary: Informative, yet biased
Review: Though this is possibly one of the best written works on HAMAS in existence, it certainly is biased with respect to the authors' ideology. Often, it seems as if the authors are attempting to question the credibility of the movement and its leaders while taking shots at them. If you "read between the lines" then you will gain some insight into the precarious situation that the Palestinian Authority faces and why civil war will erupt if the PA takes action against militant organizations such as HAMAS. The complex interplay between politics and religion is also covered in depth, and the flexibility of the HAMAS movement is astounding, especially how the group was able to survive after the Oslo Accords. While the length of this book is somewhat short, it is comprehensive and is good research material if you wish to gain an understanding of a complex situation.