Hamas -- How Has a Terrorist Organization Become a Political Power?

Abstract

In early 2006, the first democratic elections in the Palestinian Authority ended with a surprising landslide victory by Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization. How did Hamas gain enough power to become the ruling party by democratic election? Does that mean that the majority of Palestinians support terrorism? Hamas is similar to other fundamentalist Islamic organizations in terms of its social network and its aspiration to establish an Islamic state. Understanding the source of Hamas's power and identifying its center of gravity are crucial to understanding how Hamas came to possess such power, and to waging an effective war against terrorism. Furthermore, such an understanding is essential to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Since any action taken against Hamas by Israel or the United States will be interpreted as an attack against Islam, the only way to deal with this Islamist fundamentalist organization is to engage the participation of moderate Arab countries.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 13, 2008
Accession Number
ADA479689

Entities

People

  • Ben-zion Mehr

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Center Of Gravity
  • Education
  • Governments
  • Man Borne Improvised Explosive Devices
  • Military Organizations
  • Negotiations
  • Organizational Structure
  • Political Movements
  • Political Systems
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Societies
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • International Relations and Conflict Resolution
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.