Blackwell Reference Online

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Hamas was founded in 1987, soon after the outbreak of the first Intifada , or uprising, against Israeli occupation, in Palestine. Its founders were educated professionals residing in the Gaza Strip. All of them, led by the charismatic Shaykh Ahmad Yasin, were members of the Society of Muslim Brothers and dedicated to reviving Muslim values and piety within their community. They also believed that Palestine should eventually become a Muslim state. Shaykh Yasin had proven himself a dynamic and talented organizer. In 1973 he established the Islamic Center in Gaza city and quickly made it the hub of an Islamist infrastructure that delivered religious, social, medical, educational, and economic programs to tens of thousands of people. Affiliated programs were established in the West Bank. Soon the center was one of the most influential institutions in the Occupied Territories and, slowly but surely, it was injecting a religious point of view into Palestinian national consciousness. By the 1980s the talent and organizational potential necessary for an Islamic fundamentalist mass movement existed in Palestine. In 1983, in response to the activities of the Israeli occupation forces, Yasin established a paramilitary organization called the al-Qassam regiments. It was authorized to use violence against selected Israeli targets as well as Palestinian collaborators. Later, when Hamas was founded, ... log in or subscribe to read full text