The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence, and Coexistence

by Shaul Mishal and Avraham Sela

Book Overview

In The Palestinian Hamas, Shaul Mishal and Avraham Sela show that, contrary to its violent image, Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement) is essentially a social and political organization, providing extensive community services and responding to political realities through bargaining and power brokering. The authors lift the veil on Hamas's strategic decision-making methods at each of the crucial crossroads it has confronted: the Intifada...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 023114007X
• ISBN13: 9780231140072
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Informative, yet biased

Though this is possibly one of the best written works on HAMAS in existence, it certainly is biased with respect to the authors' ideology. Often, it seems as if the authors are attempting to question the credibility of the movement and its leaders while taking shots at them. If you "read between the lines" then you will gain some insight into the precarious situation that the Palestinian Authority faces and why civil war will erupt if the PA takes action against militant organizations such as HAMAS. The complex interplay between politics and religion is also covered in depth, and the flexibility of the HAMAS movement is astounding, especially how the group was able to survive after the Oslo Accords. While the length of this book is somewhat short, it is comprehensive and is good research material if you wish to gain an understanding of a complex situation.

Hamas - continuing Palestinian resistance

As Hamas has grown in influence within Palestinian society and has taken the lead in the organised physical resistance to the Israeli occupation, any book that is able to provide an objective analysis of the movement, its goals and tactics is to be much welcomed.What emerges from this account is a fascinating picture of a complex organisation, which continues to operate in a much more adaptive and pragmatic manner than might be expected by those who see Hamas only as it commonly portrayed in the Western media - hardline, fundamentalist, uncompromising.The reality is far more complex, as Mishal and Sela show. The details concerning Hamas's internal agonising over whether to participate in the Palestinian elections is an enthralling and detailed example of the different forces at play within Hamas and the sometimes conflicting agendas of the various parts of its leadership.They also make clear that Hamas is primarily about nationalism and resistance to occupation, rather than a part of some global Islamic movement. Its struggle is strictly defined with the borders of Palestine and has no interest in wider Islamic issues. What a pity therefore that such an interesting subject and one that the authors clearly know well, should be marred by such stilted and jargon ridden prose. The book clearly suffers from having been written buy two authors with quite different styles. The first and last thirds are fairly painful to read, while the middle section flows reasonably well and carries the reader along. One or both authors has something of an obsession with the use of the word "normative" and sprinkles it liberally throughout. Towards the end of the book I counted six successive paragraphs each of which contained the word, which shows both poor style and bad editing.One curious aspect of the book is that the authors make little of the fact (although they don't dispute it either) that Israel originally encouraged and facilitated the development and growth of what became Hamas, in order to provide a counterweight to the PLO and to try and divide the Palestinians and thereby deny the PLO its claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. I was at BirZeit University (the leading Palestinian university in the Occupied Territories) when the Israelis helped bus in `militants' from the Islamic University in Gaza who then attacked students who were aligned with Fatah and the PLO.It's a startling irony that the Israelis now bombard the Palestinian Authority for failing to `control' a resistance movement that Israel helped to create in the first place.

A great read for the initiated

For those who have some knowledge of the background of the conflict in the Middle East - this is an excellent read. It is essentially a book which is aimed more at the Middle Eastern Studies student. However, if like me, you are someone who is not one of the latter but who wants to know more - then read some basic background information first and then head into this book. I found it an accessable read and very interesting. Whilst at times I found it a little confusing with its references to peace agreements and events - that was down to my lack of background reading rather than the book itself. Having now read several books on the conflict I will certainly go back to this book to make the most of the information and conclusions it holds. It achieves what it sets out to do - and that is to reflect the true nature of Hamas - not just as an organization with a reputation for violence, but as an organization which has serious social, educational and religios concerns within Palestinian society. It shows the way in which the organization has adapted to the political changes and certainly gave me much to think about.