tribute to the struggle of the Palestinian people and their glorious uprising. Jordan will
continue its support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, and their coura-
geous uprising in the occupied Palestinian land, within its capabilities....
SOURCE: A Living Tribute to the Legacy of King Hussein I, http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/88_july31.html.The Founding of Hamas
DOCUMENT IN CONTEXT
A few days after the Palestinian intifada erupted in December 1987, a religious teacher,
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his followers and supporters in Gaza City founded the
group Hamas. The name means “zeal” in Arabic and is an acronym for the group’s
formal name, Harakat al-Muqawaama al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Resistance Movement
(The First Intifada, p. 191).
Yassin and his supporters were members of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim
Brotherhood, an Islamist organization founded in Egypt in 1928. Although the Broth-
erhood had been active in the Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza, for many
years and had founded the Islamic University there, it had little influence among Pales-
tinians until the late 1980s, when an increasing number of Palestinians began to grow
frustrated with the failure of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to oust Israel
from the territories. The rise of Hamas also reflected a growing interest among Pales-
tinians in Islam—rather than the PLO’s secular nationalism—as the solution to their
problems.
During Hamas’s early stages, Israel tolerated it, and even encouraged it. Appar-
ently under the assumption that the group could be a useful means of weakening the
PLO, Israel at first made no attempt to stop Hamas, and granted it an official permit
to operate as an Islamic charity. Israel’s permissive attitude toward Hamas changed in
August 1988 when the group adopted its covenant. Laced with standard quotes from
the Quran and other religious texts, the covenant also called for a jihad (holy war)
against “the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine,” and it attributed nearly all of the world’s
recent troubles to the influence of Jews. The covenant did not specially advocate the
use of violence, but it did call for the elimination of Israel. Its florid language expressed
unrelenting hostility toward Jews in general and Israel in particular.
Although many of its supporters participated in the Palestinian intifada against
Israel, Hamas as an organization did not take part in the official leadership of the
intifada, which eventually was guided by the PLO. As the intifada wore on and Israel
continued its crackdown, Hamas took a step toward radicalization in 1989, sponsor-
ing dozens of shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. In response, Israel
arrested Yassin and sentenced him to life in prison. He was released in 1997 in an
ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS 205