Who is Hamas and How did they come to Power?

Founded in 1987, following the outbreak of the First Intifada, Hamas established itself as a militant islamic organization closely partnered with larger militant organizations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood. For much of the late-20th century, Hamas was focused on gaining influence, following, and authority in the West Bank. While involved in terrorist activity against Israel, they would only see publicity for infighting with other militant islamic groups who looked to maintain authority amongst the Palestinian people. Today, Hamas is the ruling body in the Gaza Strip. How did this come to be? Certainly, unrest from the intifada factored into a change of leadership, but I attribute optimal timing and a strategic political approach as the root for Hamas success in the 2006 election. 

Before delving into the circumstances around Hamas’ rise to power it is important to note that the Gaza Strip, is a strip of land amounting to 150 sq. miles that sits on the western border of Israel. It borders both Egypt to the South and Israel to the North and East. Through years of unrest and terror, Ariel Sharon, the PM of Israel, gifted this land to the Palestinians as an act of peace and goodwill. Such an act was thought to inspire peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This, however, was not the case. In January 2006, government elections were held in Gaza whereby Hamas won 76 of the 132 seats, declaring them majority leaders of the Gaza Strip. Below are the circumstances that allowed for this to happen: 

One circumstance that allowed Hamas to gain control was the Islamic nature of the Hamas charter. The Hamas charter represented a more “authentic engagement” with the aspirations of the Palestinian people as compared to the PLO, whose goals were rooted in a more secular approach. Hamas highlighted a more Islamic interpretation of an armed struggle against the Jews to liberate Palestine. Hamas worked with local Imams and used the media wing of their organization to seize the moment as Palestinians began populating in Gaza. The timing of Israel’s evacuation worked very well with the timing of the election. Hamas leveraged this timing to relate to the Palestinian people, claiming that “Hamas’ resistance compelled Israel to leave Gaza” … a vindication of their strategy. Their media slogan became, “4 years of resistance surpassed 10 years of bargaining.”

While today, Hamas uses violent tactics and threats to maintain political power, in 2005, Hamas took a more political approach that targeted the immediate needs and wants of the Palestinian people over the organizations’ long-term aspirations. Hamas seemingly dropped their Islamic agenda in claiming that they would “refrain from attacks on Israel…if Israel ceased their offensive against Palestinians” and endorsing Palestinian sovereignty over the Palestinian territories, as opposed to all of Israel. The Palestinians wanted peace and did not want a continuation of bloodshed. Hamas understood this, and tailored their political approach around it.