Jewish Community Relations Council

of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties

121 Steuart Street, Suite 301, San Francisco, CA 94105|415.957.1551 July 2008 BACKGROUNDER ON THE ISSUES ByYitzhakSantis Director,JCRCMiddleEastProject

HAMAS:

Its Ideology and Record

amas, an Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement, was elected to a position of leadership in the PalestinianAuthorityinJanuary2006.ByDecemberthetwomainPalestinianfactionsFatahandHamas had engaged in a seven month civil war, leaving hundreds of Palestinians dead, and many more wounded. On June 14, Hamas defeated Fatah in Gaza and took complete control of the territory, from which Israel unilaterallywithdrewinAugust2005. Hamas rise to power was a tremendous blow to prospectsforpeacebetweenIsraelisandPalestinians.In addition to Hamas violent record as a terrorist organization,itpossessesaradicalIslamistideologythat explicitly calls for the killing of Jews 1 , destroying the StateofIsrael 2 andreplacingIsraelwitharadicalIslamic theocracy.Thisideologyisbasedonanunderpinningof blatant antiSemitism 3 adopted from one of Europes darkestperiods(theHolocaust),andembeddeddeeplyin HamasideologicalmanifestoitcallsaCovenant. Since 2005, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets indiscriminately into southern Israeli towns and cities, most notably Sderot where, according to Haaretz, between 75percent and94 percent of Sderot children 4 TheHamasemblemconsistsoftheDomeoftheRock,twocrossed aged 418 exhibit symptoms of posttraumatic stress. swords, and two Palestinian flags embracing the Dome with the Since June 2008, Israel has entered into an Egyptian phrases, "There is no god but Allah", and "Muhammad is the brokeredceasefirewithHamas. messenger of Allah." At the top is a map encompassing the boundaries of the State of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,with"Palestine"writtenunderthepictureandastripatthe Tobetterunderstandcurrentsituation,itisimportantto bottomstating"IslamicResistanceMovementHamas." have a fuller understanding of Hamas background, ideologyandtrackrecord.

TheDayofJudgmentwillnotcomeaboutuntilMuslimsfightJewsandkillthem.Then,theJewswillhidebehindrocks andtrees,andtherocksandtreeswillcryout:OMuslim,thereisaJewhidingbehindme,comeandkillhim.Hamas Charter,Article7 2IsraelwillexistandwillcontinuetoexistuntilIslamwillobliterateit,justasitobliteratedothersbeforeit.Hamas Charter,Preamble 3SeeAppendixB. 4Study:MostSderotkidsexhibitposttraumaticstresssymptoms,Haaretz,January17,2008

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RadicalIslamism:ABriefBackground
lmost every country in the Middle East is affectedbyradicalIslamistmovements.In additiontoIsrael,Arabregimesthroughout the Middle East are under increasing attack by radical Islamists, and Islamist violence has become endemic from the Philippines to Chechnya. Attacks against the U.S., Spain, England and other countries have increased dramaticallyinrecentyears. The year 1979 was a watershed for radical Islamism. Although the EgyptianIsraeli peace

accord was a setback for Islamist ideology, the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the strong resistance of the Afghani mujahedeen, (among whom was Osama bin Laden) against the invading Soviet army invigorated the movement.ThesameyeartheGrandMosqueinMecca wasseizedbyIslamicradicals,whichledtothedeathsof hundreds of people, mostly pilgrims on the Hajj, in a battle with the Saudi army. Two years later Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the first Arab leader to sign a peacetreatywithIsrael,wasassassinatedatthehandsof the Takfir waHijrah a splinter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

HamasIdeology
amasisabranchoftheMuslimBrotherhood,amilitantIslamicmovementfoundedinEgyptin1928 byHassanalBannaanddedicatedtopurgingEgyptofWesterninfluences,particularlyBritishcolonial rule. According to Prof. Ephraim Karsh, of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Studies at King's College,UniversityofLondon,HamasviewsthestruggleforPalestineasneitheranordinarypolitical dispute between two contending nations (Israelis and Palestinians), nor even as a struggle for national selfdeterminationbyanindigenouspopulationagainstaforeignoccupier.Rather,itseesPalestineasbut onebattleinaworldwideholywartopreventthefallofapartoftheHouseofIslamtoinfidels. 5 Inthe1960sand70s,undertheleadershipofSaidQutb,theBrotherhoodexperiencedaresurgenceof popularityinEgypt,Jordan,theWestBankandGazaStrip.TheBrotherhoodbuiltanimpressivesocial, religious,educationalandculturalinfrastructure,whichgavethemapoliticalstronghold,bothintheGaza Strip and the West Bank. 6 Hamas carries out dawah activity as part of its overall strategy to gain popular support. The military and social support wings of Hamas are inseparable, and mutually dependent.
The popularsocial base is maintained materially by the charity committees and ideologically throughinstruction,propagandaandincitementdeliveredinthemosquesandotherinstitutions andthroughleaflets.Thisbaseisthesourcefortherecruitmentofmembersintotheunitswhich engageinriotsandpopularviolence. 7

Hamas draws primarily from two ideological fonts: the universalistic Islamist principles of the Muslim Brotherhood,whichendeavorstoreturnArabIslamicsocietybacktoatraditionalIslamicstate,andthe Palestinian tenet of popular liberation coupled with the goal of establishing an Islamic state in all of Palestine.

Hamas:ABranchoftheMuslimBrotherhood

A
5

fteritsfounding,theMuslimBrotherhoodspopularity spread rapidly. During World War II it had actively allied itself with Nazi Germany toward the goal of ending British rule in Egypt. Also during this time the

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine. Hamas Covenant, Article 2

JerusalemIssueBrief,Vol.7,No.37,30April2008(InstituteforContemporaryAffairsattheJerusalemCenterforPublic AffairswiththeWechslerFamilyFoundation) 6TheInstituteforCounterTerrorismattheInterdisciplinaryCenter,Herzliya,Israel.BackgroundReportonHamas http://www.ict.org.il/organizations/org_frame.cfm?orgid=13 7Ibid.

BrotherhoodspreadthroughouttheArabworld. In1948,afterIsraelsestablishment,theBrotherhoodsfounder,HassanalBanna,proclaimedthat,Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it. (Hamas placed al Bannas quote in their Covenants preamble.) In 1966, Egyptian President Nasser executedtheBrotherhoodsleadership.EventuallytheBrotherhoodregrouped,andtodayitholds20%of theseatsinEgyptsParliament.Itboastsaverycomplexinternationalfinancialnetworkconnectingthe operationsof70Brotherhoodbranchesworldwide.Hamasisbutoneofthesebranches. Themovementhasnotchangeditsbasicideologyinthenearlyeightyyearsofitsexistence,andholdsa longtermviewforachievingitsgoalofapanIslamicstateruledbyacaliph.

APortalforAntiSemitism
y the late 1930s, Nazi Germany, seeking to undermine the British, established contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood, which in turn saw in Germany an ally that could further their cause. Before long the Brotherhood adopted fascist trappings, including a creed of unconditional loyalty to the leader, and a paramilitary organization whose slogan action, obedience, silence echoed the believe, obey,fightmottooftheItalianFascists. 8 FromtheFascistsalBannaalsoborrowedtheideaofheroic death. 9 Hamasglorificationofmartyrsdyingintheactofsuicidebombingsechoesthisfascistmode. AfteralBannasmurderin1949,hissuccessorSayyidQutbwroteamanifestocalledOurStrugglewith theJews.ThebookhasmorethanapassingsimilaritytoHitlersMeinKampf,whichinGermanmeans MyStruggleandwhosemainsubjectisthebattlebetweenAryansandtheJews.Qutbadaptedand transformedHitlersformulationoftheJewsaseternalenemiesoftheAryanracetotheJewsas the eternal enemies of Islam. Qutbs main theme is the Jews use Christianity, capitalism and communismasweaponsintheirwartosubvertIslam,andareresponsibleforallsortsofevils,including Marxism,psychoanalysis,materialism,sexualdepravityandthedestructionofmorals.ForQutbandhis followers, all these imagined assemblages of incarnated evil known as the Jews represents a mortal, 10 existentialthreattoIslam. PaulBermanwrites,Therevoltagainstliberalism(e.g.totalitarianism)thatgotunderwayafter1914has neverrunoutofenergy,andtheimpulseformurderandsuicidecontinuestorocketaroundtheglobe, and nothing from the twentieth century has come to an end. The only difference, he explains, is the scriptsinwhichtherevolutionarymanifestosarepublished:firstGothicGermanandCyrillic,butnowin 11 A rabicandFarsi. AsthePalestinianarmoftheMuslimBrotherhoo d,HamasfullyadaptedthisJudeophobicimageryinits c oreideology.ItsCovenantstatesthattheJews
have been scheming for a long time ... and have accumulated huge and influential material wealth.Withtheirmoney,theytookcontroloftheworldmedia...Withtheirmoneytheystirred revolutions in various parts of the globe... They stood behind the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and most of the revolutions we hear about... With their money they formed secret organizations such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests... They stoodbehindWorldWarI...andformedtheLeagueofNationsthroughwhichtheycouldrulethe

8Terror,Islam,andDemocracy,LadanBoroumandandRoyaBoroumand,JournalofDemocracyVolume13,Number2April 2002 9Ibid. 10SeeMuslimAntiSemitism:AClearandPresentDanger,byRobertS.Wistrich,AmericanJewishCommittee,April2002 11TerrorandLiberalism,byPaulBerman,W.W.Norton&Company,2004

world.TheywerebehindWorldWarII,throughwhichtheymadehugefinancialgains...Thereis nowargoingonanywherewithoutthemhavingtheirfingerinit. 12

The Palestinian Nazi Alliance

he father of Palestinian nationalism, Amin el Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, was the Brotherhoods officialrepresentativeinBritishMandatory Palestine.Hewasaclosecollaboratorwith Nazi Germany at the highest levels, including Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler andAdolfEichmann. 13 On November 28, 1941 el Husseini met with Hitler inBerlin, wheretheydiscussed bringingtheHolocausttotheMiddleEast. Hitler told el Husseini that once German PalestinianleaderAminelHusseinimeetingwithHitler,November 28,1941 forcesdefeatedtheBritishinNorthAfrica, Hitler would offer the Arab world his personalassurancethatthehourofliberationhadstruck.Thereafter,Germany'sonlyremainingobjective in the region would be limited to the annihilation of the Jews living under British protection in Arab lands. 14 AccordingtoGermanhistorianWolfgangG.Schwanitz:
From1941to 1945,he(elHusseini)livedfor themostpartinBerlinasaguestoftheGerman government.TheNazisprovidedofficespace,vehiclesandmoney,sothattheMuftiandhisentire entourage could stay active. In return, the Mufti used his influence in the Middle East on the Nazis' behalf and recruited Muslims for the Nazi war effort. On the airwaves of Nazi Germany's Arablanguageradioservice,hecalledforaHolyWar,ajihad,againsttheAlliesandtheJews.

InonesuchradiobroadcastonNovember2,1943,AminelHusseinideclared:
NationalSocialistGermanyknowstheJewswellandhasdecidedtofindaFinalSolutionforthe 15 Jewishdangerwhichwillendtheevilintheworld.

AminelHusseinisinfluenceisstillfelttoday.HamasCovenantincludesreferencestotheProtocolsof theEldersofZion. 16 (TheProtocolsareaforgerypurportingtobetheminutesofasecretmeetingof internationalJewishleadersplottingtotakecontroloftheworld.ItformstheJudeophobicbasisofNazi

HamasCovenant,Article22.See:http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/hamas.htm SeeIconofEvil:HitlersMuftiandtheRiseofRadicalIslam,byDavidG.DalinandJohnF.Rothmann,Random House,2008andJihadandJewHatred:Islamism,NazismandtheRootsof9/11,byMatthiasKuntzel,TelosPress Publishing,2007 14FromnotestakenbyDr.PaulOttoSchmidtasquotedinGeraldFlemingsHitlerandtheFinalSolution,p.101104, UniversityofCaliforniaPress(1988).AlsoGeheimeReichssache57a/41,RecordsDept.ForeignandCommonwealthOffice Pa/2 15TextofAminelHusseinsspeechof2November,1943,NationalArchives,Washington,D.C.T60/25760669 16SeeHamasCovenantArticle32:Zionistscheminghasnoend,andafterPalestine,theywillcovetexpansionfromthe NiletotheEuphratesRiver.Whentheyhavefinisheddigestingtheareaonwhichtheyhavelaidtheirhand,theywill lookforwardtomoreexpansion.TheirschemehasbeenlaidoutintheProtocolsoftheEldersofZion.
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ideology, and has been called by historians a warrant for genocide.) 17 Other parts of the Hamas CovenantreadasiftheywerelifteddirectlyfromMeinKampf. 18

Hamas:ItsGrowthandEvolution

iththeoutbreakofthefirstPalestinianintifadain1987,Hamasevolvedintoamilitantorganization which directed its activities not only against Israel, but also against Yassir Arafats Fatah, the primary group within the PLO, whose ideology is primarily nationalist and does not emphasize Islam.

During the 1990s, Hamas emerged as a spoiler as it began to use suicide bombers as a means of disruptingthepeaceprocess.BythetimeoftheAlAqsaintifadain2000,Hamasalreadyledthewayin awarofterroragainstIsraelicivilians. Hamas receives funding from a variety of sources: direct financial aid from Iran, donations and membershipfees,fundraisingintheArabworldandtheWest,fromPalestinianexpatriates,andprivate benefactorsinSaudiArabiaandotherArabstates.

HamasAlliances:Iran,Syria,Hezbollah
yria serves as an important base for Hamas, providing crucial infrastructure for its operational, political, military and propaganda activities. Hamass High Command resides in Syria and runs its operations from the Hamas political office, headed by Khaled Meshaal, in Damascus. This High Command is in daily contact with Hamas including its terrorist wing, Izz AlDin AlQassam (named afteraBrotherhoodleadermartyredintheArabRevoltof1936inBritishMandatePalestine). The week prior to Hamas electoral victory in the Palestinian elections in January 2006, Meshaal met in Damascus with Hamas Covenant Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Article 7 IsraeltobewipedoffthemapandthedeportationofIsraeli The Day of Judgment will not JewstoEuropeorNorthAmerica,andhasdeniedtheHolocaust. come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Meshaal praised Ahmadinejad for these comments. In Jews will hide behind rocks and December 2005, he met Ahmadinejad in Teheran and Al trees, and the rocks and trees will Jazeerah reported that Meshaal praised Mahmoud cry out: 'O Muslim, there is a Jew Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, for his courage in having hiding behind me, come and kill dismissed the Holocaust as a myth and calling for Israel to be him. movedoutoftheMiddleEasttoEuropeorNorthAmerica. The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah also developed a close relationship with Hamas. Shiite Iran is Hezbollahsmainsponsor.In1993,HamasbecamethefirstbranchoftheSunniMuslimBrotherhoodto openanofficialofficeinTeheran.InApril2001,IranhostedanInternationalConferenceofSupportfor

SeeWarrantforGenocide:TheMythoftheJewishWorldConspiracyandtheProtocolsoftheEldersofZion,Norman Cohn,SerifPublishing;NeweditionMarch1,1996,andAntisemitism:ProtocolsoftheEldersofZion,theUnitedStates HolocaustMemorialMuseumathttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007058 18SeeHamasCovenantArticle22:Theenemieshavebeenschemingforalongtime...andhaveaccumulatedhugeand influentialmaterialwealth.Withtheirmoney,theytookcontroloftheworldmedia...Withtheirmoneytheystirred revolutionsinvariouspartsoftheglobe...TheystoodbehindtheFrenchRevolution,theCommunistRevolutionandmost oftherevolutionswehearabout...WiththeirmoneytheyformedsecretorganizationssuchastheFreemasons,Rotary ClubsandtheLionswhicharespreadingaroundtheworld,inordertodestroysocietiesandcarryoutZionistinterests... TheystoodbehindWorldWarI...andformedtheLeagueofNationsthroughwhichtheycouldruletheworld.They werebehindWorldWarII,throughwhichtheymadehugefinancialgains...Thereisnowargoingonanywherewithout themhavingtheirfingerinit.
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theIntifadaandtheIslamicRevolutioninPalestine"inTeheran,whichincludedHamasandHezbollah.It isnotcoincidentalthatHamasbeganusingHezbollahtactics,suchasthechoiceofcertainexplosives,and mortarattacksoncivilianpopulations.

HamasTerrorism

amasisresponsiblefor426terroristattackssince 2000, primarily targeting civilians. Fiftyeight of theseattacksweresuicidebombings,resultingin 377deathsand2,078injuries.

Amongthemostheinous: August9,2001:SbarroPizzeriabombingin downtown Jerusalem in which fifteen people were murdered, including six children ranging in age from two to sixteen.Another130weremaimed. March 5, 2003: Suicide bombing that murdered17peopleandwounded53ina suicidebombingofapassengerbusonen route to Haifa University. Nine of dead were children, including an Israeli Arab. AnotherIsraeliArabwasalsokilled

"The people who carry out suicide bombings are not martyrs, they're war criminals, and so are the people who help to plan such attacks. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch August 19, 2003: Twentythree people werekilledandover130woundedwhena Hamas suicide bomber detonated himself on a passenger bus in Jerusalem. Five of the dead were children, including a three yearoldandan11monthold. August 31, 2004: Sixteen people were killed and 100 wounded in two suicide bombingswithinminutesofeachotheron two Beersheba city buses. Among the deadwasa3yearoldchild.

DuringtheOslopeaceprocess(19932000),HamasandPalestinianIslamicJihadcarriedoutatleast30 suicideattacks,killing120Israelis,mostlycivilians.Theseattackswereaimedatstoppingorslowingthe Oslopeaceprocess,andwereamajorcontributingfactortoOslosfailure.Becausetheseattackswere deliberatelyaimedprimarilyatnoncombatantswiththeaimofkillingasmanyciviliansaspossible,the U.S.andEuropeanUnionhavedeclaredHamasaterroristorganization.

TheceasefirebetweenHamasandIsrael:Implicationsforthefuture
InMarch2005,HamasagreedtoaunilateralceasefirewithIsrael.TheceasefirewasbrokeredbyEgyptin Cairo, where Hamas and twelve other Palestinian groups met (Israel was not invited to the talks). The CairoAgreement,asitbecameknown,calledforaperiodofcalm(tahdiya).Notwithstandingthiscalm HamascontinuedattackingIsraelitargets,includingfiringdozensofQassammissilesfromtheGazaStrip intoIsraelitownsandanumberofattacksintheWestBank.Hamasleadersmadeitclearthatthiswas but a tactical move, and they were still committed to their goal of destroying Israel. Hamas leader MahmoudZaharsaidafterIsraelsDisengagementfromGazainAugust2005: Neither the liberation of the Gaza Strip, nor the liberation of the West Bank or even Jerusalemwillsufficeus.Hamaswillpursuethearmedstruggleuntiltheliberationofall our lands. We don't recognize the state of Israel or its right to hold onto one inch of 19 Palestine.PalestineisanIslamiclandbelongingtoalltheMuslims. The2005ceasefirefellapartwhenIslamicJihadandotherIslamistgroupsthatwerenotpartiestothe ceasefirecontinuedtheirrocketattacksonIsrael,andIsraelrespondedmilitarilytotrytostoptheattacks.

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AsharqAlAwsat,August18,2005

Since then, thousands of rockets were fired into Israel by Hamas and other groups. As this document goestopress,EgyptsucceededinbrokeringanothertahdiyabetweenIsraelandHamas.MiddleEast observers hold various opinions on why Hamas negotiated this ceasefire. Some say they did it out of weakness,otherssayitwasfromapositionofstrength. The tahdiya calls for a halt in all GazaIsrael violence for six months in exchange for Israels easing its blockadeofGaza,allowinginmorevitalsuppliestoenterGaza.Talksaresupposedtobeginonopening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, and for an exchange of prisoners including Israeli soldier GiladShalit,heldfortwoyearsbyHamas. Thepositionofweaknessanalysis: RetiredIsraeliGeneralAmnonLipkinShahakarguesthat:
Somesaytheorganizationisgainingpower,buttheagreedtoceasefiremaybeoutofweakness rather than strength. Hamas promised its people that it would gain independence through violence,butthatpolicyhasledtoonlymisery.SinceitstakeoverofGaza,theorganizationhas replacedFatahintermsofcorruption.Hamasmembersandofficersaretheonlypeoplewithgas in their vehicles; they have the best jobs, and seem to be doing fine while the rest of the populationstruggles.Althoughithasmadeimprovementsintermsoflawandorder,Hamasdoes not offer much to the people. Considering these facts, it is debatable whether it has gained supportsincetheelection.

Thepositionofstrengthanalysis: Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas Political Bureau, told Al Jazeera that it "is not unusual for the resistance...to escalate sometimes and to retreat a bit sometimes... The tahdiya creates a formulation thatwillforceIsrael...toremovethesiege...andifithappensitwillbearemarkableachievement." 20 While this explanation may be spin for domestic consumption, this does not diminish the groups ideological foundations. For Hamas, this tahdiya is not a ceasefire nor a truce, but a "temporary"cessationofhostilitiesthatdoesnotcommitittoanythingbeyondsixmonths.Hamascan use anypretext to renew rocketattacks,and it can outsource its work byhaving other Palestinian groupsattackIsraelis. The tahdiya also gives Hamas an opening to boost its military buildup for the next round of violence against Israel. Following Hezbollahs strategy, Hamas is seeking to acquire longerrange and more destructivemissilestobeusedagainstIsraeliciviliantargets.Already,HamashasfiredIranianmadeGrad missilesintoAshkelon. Politically, according to Jonathan D. Halevi, former advisor to the Policy Planning Division of Israels ForeignMinistry:
AnotherdiplomaticconsequenceofthetahdiyawillbeincreasingpressureonIsraeltoaccepta reconciliationagreementbetweenHamasandFatahinthefuture.Thatcouldleadtoincreasing demands on Israel to negotiate a permanent status arrangement with the joint HamasFatah government, while Hamas remains committed to its political program for the elimination of Israel. 21

20 21

AlJazeeraApril26,2008 TheHamasInterestintheTahdiya(TemporaryTruce)withIsrael,JerusalemCenterforPublicAffairs,Vol.8,No.4, 19June2008

Is Hamas moderating its position?

Overitsentireexistencetothepresent,HamasspokespeoplehavenotchangedtheirantiIsraelmessage. Forinstance,KhaledMeshaal,speakingonAlJazeeraonJanuary29,2008said:
Wewillnotwithdrawfromourfundamentalprinciples,fromourrightsandourstrategicgoals. The map of Palestine, for any Hamas member is the wellknown Palestinian map As for recognizing[Israel]andamendingourcharter,Hamasisnotthekindofmovementthatsuccumbs topressure.

Meshaal asserts Hamas commitment to its core ideology, what he Hamas Covenant calls their fundamental principles. His reference to the map of Palestine well known to any Hamas member is clear: Hamas Article 6 Covenantdefinesexactlytheparametersofthemap,asbeingevery 'The Islamic Resistance inchofPalestine.(Seesidebar) Movement is a distinguished Andrecently,answeringareporterswhoasked,Whatisyourvision Palestinian movement, ofafinal,longtermsettlement?aseniorHamasleaderinGazasaid, whose allegiance is to "I can quote (assassinated Hamas leader) Sheikh Yassin: Hamas rules Allah, and whose way of 22 outrecognizingIsrael. life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Even many Palestinians have serious doubts that Hamas will change. Allah over every inch of Priortothe2006elections,oneFatahofficialsaid:Hamasistryingto Palestine.' replacethePA.Since1988theirgoalhasbeentoreplacethePLO.The strategy remains the same but the tactics are different. Its the Muslim Brotherhood strategy of infiltration 23 Hamas longterm strategic goal remains, as always, Israel's destruction. The current tahdiya is but a tacticalmoveinthislongtermstrategy,whichHamasexpectstotakegenerationstoaccomplish.Itscore ideologyremainspermeatedwithantiSemitism.HamasisallieswiththemostantiSemiticregimetoday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejads Iran, and its own ideology is woven through and through with a deeply antisemiticworldview.Assuch,afinal,lastingandcomprehensivepeaceismadeallthemoreimpossible solongasHamasremainsamajorforceinPalestinianpolitics.

JCRCisabeneficiaryofthe JewishCommunityFederationofSanFrancisco,thePeninsula,MarinandSonoma Counties JewishCommunityFederationoftheGreaterEastBay

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Reuters,February17,2008 CitedinEnterHamas:TheChallengesofPoliticalIntegration,MiddleEastReportN4918January2006,International CrisisGroupConflictPreventionPartnership,EuropeanUnion