Hamas was founded in 1987 by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its name is both an acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement” and the Arabic word for “zeal” or “bravery.” As its name and origins suggest, Hamas is a fundamentalist religious organization belonging to the Sunni stream of Islam. Much like the Islamic State (ISIS) its ultimate stated goal is the establishment of an Islamic state on the entire territory of the State of Israel that would be part of a larger worldwide Islamic caliphate.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a local Muslim Brotherhood leader in Gaza, initially founded the group as a social religious charity called the Islamic Center. Throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, Israeli authorities were indifferent to Yassin and his group, and focused the bulk of their attention on Yasser Arafat’s far more violent PLO. Israel arrested Yassin after he began arming his follower in 1984, but released him less than a year later in a prisoner exchange.
Intifada and “resistance”
Hamas coalesced as a “resistance” movement in 1987-1988 at the start...
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