Who is Hamas in Palestine

At present, Palestinians have two groups: Al Fateh which is a moderate group and is based in West Bank; the second group is known as Hamas, which is a radical faction is based in Gaza since 2007. Hamas was founded in 1987 with the initiative of another Egypt-based extremist organization Muslim Brotherhood, which was ironically initially supported by Israel. Muslim brotherhood wanted to organize a radical group among Palestinians. It emerged Hamas. Israel supported Brotherhood in Gaza as a balance against Yasser Arafat and its PLO which was the main challenge for Israel in 1980s. What a strange similarity, the US like Israel, also supported the Taliban in 1980s to fight Soviet forces and America’s arch-enemy. The same thing happened with Hamas also.

While Al Fateh has accepted not only the Oslo accord but has recognized Israel’s existence as a sovereign state. But Hamas considers this accord as a compromise with the cause of Palestinians. It wants a Palestine state which has boundaries as existed before 1967. It has not recognize Israel as valid state, neither it has renounced violence in realization of its objectives.

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It is still supported by radical elements like Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Egypt based Muslim Brotherhood and some countries like Iran and Syria. It is widely believed that Iran has transferred rocket technology to Hamas. Iran is using Hamas as a tool in enhancing its regional influence. The US, Israel and European countries have declared Hamas a terrorist organization.

Hamas is based in Gaza Strip which has 2 million Palestinians, very densely populated areas. Hamas has built its security structure amidst populated areas, which poses a problem for Israel to precisely target Hamas militants without civilian casualty, which invites criticism from human rights groups and other countries.