[News] Hamas: From an Islamic Resistance Movement to Palestinian government
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news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Jul 28 12:59:30 EDT 2006
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/July/28%20o/Hamas%20From%20an%20Islamic%20Resistance%20Movement%20to%20Palestinian%20government%20By%20Astris%20Essed.htm
Hamas: From an Islamic Resistance Movement to Palestinian government
By Astris Essed
Al-Jazeerah, July 28, 2006
Introductiorn:
"Power in defense of freedom is greater than
power on behalf of tyranny and oppression."
Quote Malcolm X
At the Palestinian elections of 25-1-2006, Hamas
has obtained a startling victory.
From the 132 seats of parliament, Hamas, which
for the first time was participating in the
parliamentary elections, obtained 74 seats, in
contrary with the then reigning Fatah-party, which obtained merely 43 seats.
The further 13 seats were obtained by different
smaller political parties, as well as independent candidates.
This great victory for Hamas was no surprise
because of the fundamental Hamas political and
military resistance against the Israeli
occupation and the Hamas social activities on
behalf of the impoverished population of especially Gaza
In spite of this, leading American-European
politicians, as well as the newsmedia, didn't
only show great astonishment, they also
demanded, that Hamas, as the price for financial
support, would stop armed resistance (or what the
Israelis and their supporters call "renouncing
violence") against the Israeli occupation and
also acknowledge the State of Israel.
When the newly-formed Hamas-government refused to
agree with those American-European demands, the
American and Canadian governments, as well the EU
decided to freeze the financial support to the
Palestinian Authority, a measure, which went at
the cost of the already seriously impoverished
Palestinian civilian population, since at least
45 % of the population [there are also reports
about a higher poverty-rate varying untill 70 %]
is living below the poverty-rate and 15% is even living in extreme poverty.
Especially the educational and medical conditions
are seriously deteriorated since this boycott.
Moreover, 942.000 Palestinians or 25% of the
total Palestinian population is living from
salaries, which are being paid by the Palestinian
Authority However, due to those American-European
measures, those payments can't be done
anymore, with all humanitarian consequences for the families involved.
Not only those boycott-measures are morally
highly reprehensible in regard with the
humanitarian consequences for the Palestinian
civilian-population, they also can lead to
amounting tensions within the Palestinian society.
With regard to those measures, many international
NGO's, as well as a number of UN-organisations,
have uttered sharp criticism to those American-European boycott-measures.
Another consequence of the boycott-measure can
be, that the Hamas-government, as a result of the
freezing of EU financial support, shall receive
increased financial aid from the governments of
the Arab and Islamic countries, with as a
consequence the lessening of EU political
influence regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Recently a number of Arab governments, and Iran,
has either given, or promised, financial aid to the Hamas-government.
Probably aware of the above-mentioned political
consequences of her possible diminishing
influence regarding the Middle-East, the EU, as
has been represented by EU Commissioner Louis
Michel, former Belgian minister of foreign
affairs has set aside a sum of 34 million euro in
the form of emergency-aid to the Palestinian
territories, which are going to be delivered
outside the official Hamas-channels
Also the World Bank, which is fearing further
humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian
territories, is exploring, in direct cooperation
with the Quartet [the EU, USA, the Russian
Federation and the UN], to resume the financial
aid to the Palestinian population, outside
Hamas-channels, and probably by way of
the NGO's, which are active in the area.
Double standards:
The main motives of the American-European boycott
of the financial aid to the Palestinian Authority
lies in the refusal of Hamas, to renounce the
violence against Israel and to acknowledge the State of Israel.
A further argument regarding the boycott is the
fact, that Hamas has had a main part in the
incitement to suicide attacks against Israeli
civilians and is still continuing this strategy.
Although it is evident, that suicide-attacks as
military attacks on civilians and civilian
objects are not only inhumane, but also illegal
according International Law, it is seldom
mentioned by the EU and the American-European
government, that these attacks are a matter of
cause and effects, since they are the result of
the now 39 years of Israeli occupation, despite
of the in 1967 unanimously accepted UN-Security
Resolution 242, by which Israel was summoned, to
withdraw its troops from the in the june-war
conquered territories, among else the Palestinian territories.
Also the boycotting countries are ignoring the
fact, that the attacks of Hamas are not only
consisting of suicide-attacks, but also of the
internationally legitimated military attacks on the Israeli occupation-army.
Repeatedly Hamas has declared, as well before as
after her election-victory, her willingness to
stop armed resistance when Israel is prepared to
end its occupation of the Palestinian territories
[its international obligation under UN Security
Council Resolution nr 242], to dismantle its
settlements in the Palestinian territories, which
are illegal according International Law [see also
2 UN-Security Council Resolutions dd 1979], to
dismantle the Wall, which is being built accross
occupied Palestinian territories [see verdict ICJ
dd 9-7-2004], and is acknowledging the
Palestinian right of return, which is confirmed
by the General Assembly Resolution 194, dd 1948
All these Hamas demands are being based on
International Law, which has been confirmed by
the above-named resolutions and therefore abslutely legitimate.
Striking however is, that the American-European
boycotting governments are demanding
Hamas-disarmament on the one hand, while at the
other hand, no clear demands are being made on
Israel, regarding the implementation of the above
mentioned UN-resolutions, which were voted for by
the same American-European States.
Also this double standard-policy is being applied
with regard to Israeli and Palestinian violence
Although the condemnation of suicide-attacks
against Israeli civilians is correct and
justified, there is however a strong
undervaluation of the serious character of the
Israeli human rights violations and war-crimes,
which have been committed by especially the
Israeli army from the beginning of the occupation in 1967.
It is also significant to mention, that from
EU-side there is no real political pressure on
Israel to end the occupation and withdraw from the Palestinian territories.
Seeing from that perspective, the
American-European criticism of Hamas is lacking
moral credibility and is testifying very selective indignation
A The ideology of Hamas and the American-European
political conception with regard to the alleged
claim about ''destruction'' of the State of Israel
It is a common standard, that in nearly all
American-European newsmedia, as well in
statements of politicians, the Hamas-ideology is
being associated with the ''destruction'' of the State of Israel
Before trying to unmask this stubborn
American-European assumption I want to throw some
light on the political history of the Hamas Movement.
History of the Hamas Movement:
The word, Hamas, is an abbreviation of Harakat
al-muqâwama al-islâmiyya, which means Islamic
Resistance Movement. It had been founded in 1987
as a religious-nationalistic resistance
organisation with Shaikh Yassin as the spiritual leader.
He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in march
2004, which, being an extra-judicial
execution, not only killed him but also 7 other Palestinian civilians.
However, since the beginning of the eighties,
there was a predecessor of Hamas, also under the
leadership of Shaikh Yassin, which was mainly an
Islamic Revival Movement, which was mostly
directed on social and charitable goals.
Although of course opposed to the occupation, it
didn't stimulate the resistance, since it
considered the Israeli occupation as a punishment
of God because of Palestinian lack of religious devotion.
In other words, this revival movement was meant
to make the Palestinian population return to the
basics of Islam, as explained by the movement, in their daily life.
Even when the official Hamas organisation had
been founded in 1987, initially there was no real
resistance against the occupation, despite the anti-Zionistic Charter of 1988.
Only later the Hamas organisation became part of
the resistance, resulting in military attacks
against the Israeli occupation army and from 1994
in suicide-attacks against Israeli civilians.
The immediate cause was the massacre by the
Jewish-Israeli extreme rightwing Dr Baruch
Goldstein on 29 Palestinians, who were praying in
the Ibrahimi Mosque (also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron.
Hamas Charter:
Analysis of the Hamas Charter, that is consisting
of 36 articles, reveals that the basis is being
formed upon as well the resistance against the
Israeli occupation, as well the assumption of
the dismantlement of the Zionist State of Israel,
to be replaced by an islamic Palestinian State
with equal rights for all the inhabitants and
religious freedom regarding Jews and Christians.
Seeing from this perspective, the Charter has an
anti-colonialist conception because of the
fundamental criticism on the colonialist
character of the foundation of the State of
Israel in historical Palestine, first being a
colony of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire and after
World War I , a British Mandate-area.
According to the wish of the European Zionist
movement, the foundation of a ''Jewish'' State
in historical Palestine took place, based on
General Assembly Resolution number 181, in 1947,
which contained the division of Palestine into a
Jewish and an Arab states, without any
consultation of the autochtone Palestinian population.
It is of importance to mention here, that the
objections of the Palestinians were not against
the settlement of Jewish people in Palestine, but
against the division of their country into two different States.
Yet apart from that, Hamas is justly protesting
against the present Zionist State, which is for
an important part based on discriminatory laws
and measures, which are at the cost of the
so-called ''Israeli Arabs'', especially regarding
educational and medical provisions.
One of the most striking example of those
discriminatory laws of State is the fact, that
any Jewish man or woman in the world has the
right to settle in Israel, while the right of
return of the Palestinian descendants of the
750,000 refugees who were evicted from their
homeland by Zionist militias, which was confirmed
in General Assembly Resolution 194, in 1948, is
not being acknowledged by Israel.
Notwithstanding anyone's opinion about this
anti-Zionist point of view and the
Hamas-assumption about the undesirable foundation
of an Islamic State, it is evident, that the
expulsion or even killing of Israeli-Jewish
inhabitants of Israel, which is often suggested
by the American-European politicians and newsmedia, is out of order.
Although in the Charter is being referred to
''the Jews'', a thorough reading makes clear,
that it is a reference to the Israeli Zionist
regime and the Israeli occupation, not to the
Jews as an ethnic-religious group.
Also in Hamas bulletins, the word ''Jews'' is not
used. Rather, the words ''Zionistic enemy'' or
the ''Zionist entity'' are usually used.
B Suicide-attacks:
Mentioning Hamas, mostly the emphasis is being
laid on the suicide-attacks against Israeli
civilians, for which it bears responsibility. It
is evident, that those actions are not only
inhumane, but also they are serious violations of
the International Humanitarian Law, that states,
that in each military conflict a clear
distinction is to be made between combatants
[soldiers or fighters] and non-combatants [civilians].
From that point of view it is completely right,
that those attacks are being condemned severely by the International Community.
Although it is important to realize, that the
cause of those suicide attacks is rooted in
the Israeli occupation since 1967, which
resulted in oppression, humiliations and mostly
unpunished war crimes, it is no justification
whatsoever for any resistance group for also to commit war crimes.
According to International Law it is illegal, to
respond one violation of human rights by
committing a reciprocal violation, even with regard to an occupation
On the other hand, any military action against an
occupation-army is internationally legitimated as
a right of an occupied population to resist against the occupying power.
However, there is too little international press
attention for the fact, that an important part of
Hamas strategy is also the use of this legitimated resistance method.
It is however striking, that as Israel as well as
the USA , qualify those military attacks against
the occupation-army, as ''terrorist'', ignoring
the internationally legitimated character.
Recently yet Mr Solana, Secretary-General of the
Council of the European Union for foreign
affairs, has confirmed the right on resistance against a foreign occupation.
C The Israeli liquidation-policy:
Also internationally reprehensible are the
Israeli liquidations of the leaders and activists
of the Palestinian resistance-movements, like Hamas.
Those liquidations started in the beginning of
the seventies of the former century and were
being practiced by successive Israeli governments
They took the form of frontal shootings of cars,
the exploding of mobile telephones and nowadays
mostly, the airstrikes, whether on civilian
targets like refugee-camps, flat-apartments, houses, or marketplaces.
As commonly known, those attacks are severe
violations of International Law, which states,
that every human being has a right on a fair and independent trial.
Moreover, because of those still daily-committed
liquidations, in many cases also civilians, who
just pass by, as well co-habitants of houses,
apartments and refugee-camps are being killed.
In those cases war-crimes are being committed,
since the presence of civilians at civilian goals
[streets, market-places, cars, apartments and
refugee-camps] is highly expectable
However, despite the high humanitarian risk for
the civilian-population, recently the Israeli
prime-minister Olmert has made clear, that those
airstrikes are to continue, despite of the loss of Palestinian civilian lives
It is a striking example of Western selective
indignation, that although the Hamas-led suicide
attacks are leading to the freezing of the
financial help to the Palestinian Authority, but
with regard to those Israeli extrajudicial
executions, as well the indiscriminate military
attacks on Gaza, no sanction measures are being taken against Israel.
Regarding the fact that Israel being the
occupying country bears the lion's share in the
escalation of the present conflict, especially
the EU, which claims to defend the Palestinian
humanitarian interests, is held accountable for
this hypocritical point of view.
D Social-charitable Hamas activities
A hitherto undervalued aspect regarding the
activities of Hamas are the social-charitable
activities of Hamas on behalf of especially the
serious impoverished population in Gaza.
Ironically by doing this, Hamas is fulfilling the
international-judicial obligation of the Israeli
occupation-power to take care for the occupied Palestinian population.
According one of the most important articles of
the 4th Geneva Convention, an occupying power is
head-responsible for the safety, the wellbeing
and the welfare of the occupied population, the so-called ''protected persons''
International reports about the humanitarian
situation in Gaza have learnt, that the Israeli
occupation-authorities have failed to fulfill
this obligation regarding the occupied Palestinian population.
The impoverished situation of the Palestinian
population is still being intensified by the
Israeli military attacks in Gaza and the
West-Bank, which have resulted mostly in serious
human rights violations and war-crimes.
So especially in Gaza [but also in the West-Bank]
mass-house demolitions took place, which is
forbidden according article 53, 4th Geneva Convention.
Also especially in Gaza several times the border with Israel had been closed.
Due to this measure the Palestinians, who work in
Israel, are thus loosing their daily necessities of life.
Recently Israel has, as a retaliatory measure for
the abduction or imprisonment [the news sources
are giving different messages regarding to that],
not only closed the border with Gaza, but also
bombed parts of the infrastructure [bridges and
main roads], which caused considerable damage and
has cut of the water anf electricity-supplies of the population.
A thus token retaliatory measure is as a
collective punishment a serious breach of
International Law [article 33, 4th Geneva
Convention is forbidding any collective punishment.
When such Israeli measures were taken in the
past, Hamas has supplied the most impoverished part of the population.
Mostly the financial donors of Hamas were donors, stemming from the Arab world.
However, in contrary with the Palestinian
Authority, Hamas wasn't corrupt at all.
Of course, this led to a great popularity of
Hamas and the striking outcome of the elections.
Epilogue:
In this article I've tried to make clear, that
not only the American-European freezing of the
financial help to the Palestinian Authority is
immoral, because it is at the cost of the
impoverished Palestinian population, also it is a
double standard to condemn the Hamas violence and
to consider the Israeli violence, due to the
Israeli occupation, as a minor issue.
No resistance-organisation whatsoever can be
expected to lay down the arms, while the
occupation and oppression is being continued with the most extreme measures.
However it is evident, that also a
resistance-movement must be based on the
obligations according to International Law.
However, without closing the eyes for the very
reprehensible suicide-attacks against Israeli
civilians, in which Hamas played an important
part, the Hamas fundamental stand against the
Israeli occupation and settlements policy has to
be respected, as well its fundamental resistance
against the Zionist State of Israel.
Therefore, I sincerely hope, that Hamas will not
yield to the growing American-European political
pressure to make the Israeli occupation and
settlements policy points of negotiation.
However, when Hamas really wants to be respected
by friend and foe, it has to refrain from the
attacks on Israeli civilians or civilian-goals.
Every human being, whether Palestinian or
Israeli, has the right on the same humane
treatment and to my opinion, being occupied is no
justification to violate those inalienable rights.
Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Sources:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
<http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm>http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm
The 3th Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war:
<http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68>http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68
The 4th Geneva Convention, relative to the
protections of civilian persons in time of war:
<http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5>http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5
http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4837.shtml
<http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2006/ocha-opt-11apr.pdf>http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2006/ocha-opt-11apr.pdf
Israeli human rights violations:
<http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/29/isrlpa13662.htm>http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/29/isrlpa13662.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/20/israb13595.htm
<http://hrw.org/reports/2005/iopt0605/>http://hrw.org/reports/2005/iopt0605/
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/12/22/isrlpa12345.htm
Hamas human rights violations:
<http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/09/isrlpa11106.htm>http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/09/isrlpa11106.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/30/isrlpa12549.htm
<http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/29/isrlpa12543.htm>http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/29/isrlpa12543.htm
Israeli discriminatory measures against
Palestinian-Arab children in the Israeli education-system:
<http://hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/JILPfinal.pdf>http://hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/JILPfinal.pdf
Israeli discriminatory laws:
<http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/23/isrlpa11000.htm>http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/23/isrlpa11000.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/23/isrlpa11003.htm
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