Did Israel Create Hamas?

Source: 21st Century Wire

March 2, 2019 • By Robert Inlakesh • 3 Comments

Were Hamas created by Israel? It's a controversial question that is both dividing and confusing people across various fronts.

A widely ignored topic, that is the result of much argument and confusion.

Hamas, Harakat Al-Muqawamah Al-Islamiyyah or the Islamic Movement, is a Palestinian political party officially created in 1987. If you are living in the Western world, you have probably heard the characterization of it as a terrorist organization that uses suicide bombings, indiscriminate rockets and other tactics, in order to bring about the destruction of the state of Israel.

For most living in the West, Hamas is seen as an al-Qaeda type group. When many amerce themselves in the politics of Palestine-Israel, this perception of Hamas is carried on and included into their dichotomy of the overall situation.

What is important to understand however, is that Hamas is not only nothing like Al-Qaeda or any such organization in its goals, it is also a much larger organization than is typically depicted. Hamas successfully encompasses social, military and political branches into its party.

Hamas is many different things, to many different people in Palestine. There are large sums who support, but also overwhelming numbers of opposition to Hamas, particularly in the Gaza Strip, due to its policies, ideology and actions.

Hamas was democratically elected in the Gaza Strip in 2006 and claimed complete control over the Gaza Strip in 2007, after inflicting a bloody military defeat upon its largest opposition party Fatah.

Since Israel’s departure and Hamas's rise to prominence, Israel has continued to illegally blockade the Gaza Strip and no proper elections have happened after that of which elected Hamas.

The reason for laying out a brief outline of the organization itself, is to roughly paint a picture of what Hamas actually is, in order to later explain why many of the misconceptions about its founding can easily be debunked.

MUJAMMA AL-ISLAMIYYAH

If we are going to begin to touch on the origins of Hamas, we must look further back, to before Hamas was actually established.

Prior to the establishment of Hamas, was the Mujamma Al-Islamiyyah, which is often characterized as being the same organization as Hamas, due to the familiarity in leadership and ideology.

The Islamic charity Mujamma Al-Islamiyyah, was created in 1973 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the same man who later went on – with other Mujamma members – to form Hamas. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was described at the time, as the head of the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sheikh Yassin's family were made refugees, in 1948, from his home village of Al-Jura, which is now part of what is called Israel today.

The Mujamma Al-Islamiyyah was an organization that built schools, mosques, libraries, the Islamic University, formed religious institutions, provided medical clinics, food and other such aid to those in need. It was appreciated by many in the Gaza Strip and this element of the Mujamma was very much carried on by Hamas.

What the Mujamma also did however, pushed a particularly conservative view of Islam upon the population of the Gaza Strip. Numerous accounts confirmed aggressive and often violent actions on behalf of people within the organization, against Palestinian nationalists, liberals, communists and others.

It is the violent enforcement of their ideology, that Israel – which was at the time occupying Gaza internally- exploited for their political gain. Hundreds of eyewitness of accounts were documented of Palestinians witnessing Israel's hands off approach, to the organizations iron first enforcement of their ideologies.

Many Palestinians claim to have seen Israeli soldiers standing back and watching in amusement as the Mujamma members would attack those who they did not approve of. In 1979, Israel even officially recognized the Mujamma and allowed them to work on their charity projects, they even elevated members of the Mujamma to positions of power in the Gaza Strip.

Although the work of the Mujamma, was primarily funded by the Gulf Arab states, it is claimed by former Israeli intelligence agents that Israel provided hundreds of thousands (USD) in funding to the Mujamma. Israel's aims, with its support for the Mujamma, was division in the Gaza Strip and a counter balance to rival factions. Keep in mind that the Mujamma was not an armed group, it was a social islamic charity organization closely linked with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Please go to 21st Century Wire to read the entire article.

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Chapter on the Muslim Brotherhood:

The Lost Hegemon: Whom the gods would destroy