Hamas
The electoral victory by the Palestinian group
Hamas has led to a wide range of reactions. US President George W Bush
reiterated that he would not work with Hamas politicians unless they
renounce their call to destroy Israel. However, he did recognise that
the Palestinians have indicated that they want change. Countries in the
European Union also say Hamas must reject violence. Iran has rejoiced
at the Hamas victory. Tehran hopes the result will strengthen
Palestinian resistance. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once said that
Israel should be wiped from the map.According to preliminary results Hamas has gained 76 seats in the Palestinian parliament, an absolute majority. The Israeli government has always said it would not tolerate a Palestinian government which includes Hamas.
Up to now, the Fatah party has dominated Palestinian politics led by moderate Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who has since tendered his resignation. The consequences of the Palestinian election are to be discussed by the Middle East Quartet, which consists of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.
"Hamas" is also the former name of the Movement of Society for Peace, a political party in Algeria.
The Hamas emblem shows two crossed swords, the Dome of the Rock, and a map of the land they claim as Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).
Hamas, acronym of Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah - literally "Islamic Resistance Movement" and Arabic for 'zeal'), is a Palestinian Islamist movement and political party closely related to the Muslim Brotherhood. Its stated goal is to "remove Israel from the map", and to establish an Islamic theocracy in the area that is currently Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza strip. In pursuit of this, Hamas affirms a right to engage in military struggle. Hamas affirms a right to engage in military struggle to liberate the post-1967 Occupied Territores and has repeatedly affirmed that its claims over the pre-1967 area of Israel.
Hamas is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union, Canada, the United States, and Israel, and its attacks targeting Israeli civilians and other human rights abuses have been condemned by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The organization is particularly popular among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, though it also has a following in the West Bank, and, to a lesser extent, in other Middle Eastern countries and throughout the Palestinian diaspora, including within Israel. The movement's popularity stems from its provision of welfare and social services to the Palestinian poor and its paramilitary activities, as well as from the perceived corruption of the Fatah party. Outside the Arab world, Hamas is primarily known for its suicide bombings against civilians in busy urban areas in Israel. It is notorious for its generous payments to the families of suicide bombers on one hand while in an attempt to change its image in the eyes of the west Hamas is also paying a media consultant $180,000 (£100,000) to persuade Europeans and Americans that it is not a group of religious fanatics who relish suicide bombings and hate Jews.
Quotes from Hamas Charter
Background
Name
Beliefs
History
Activities
Legal action against Hamas
Hamas victory redraws political map
Hamas wins huge majority
List of notable Hamas members
Hamas Covenant
Fatah
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up."
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."
Suicide attacks are an element of what the group sees as its asymmetric warfare against Israel. Because the group considers all Israel to be a "militarized society", i.e there is mandatory military service for most Jewish men and women, and Israelis to be participants in an illegal occupation of Palestinian land, Hamas does not distinguish between Israeli civilian and military targets. This failure to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, and the group's willingness to target civilian facilities such as commuter buses, supermarkets,and restaurants has earned it the label of terrorist organization.
Hamas also fights a guerrilla war against the Israeli military and security forces in its effort to drive them from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As well as suicide bombings, Hamas operatives plant bombs and carry out shooting attacks on civilians and non-civilians alike in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The organization's goal to unite all Israeli and Palestinian lands under an Islamic State, which would see the end of Israel in its entirety, has been used by the Israeli government to justify the assassination of its leaders. Assassinations and assassination attempts on Hamas leaders have been carried out by the Israeli Air Force in the occupied territories, and by car bombings, shootings, and poison injections by Mossad agents outside Israel and the occupied territories.
Hamas started as an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s and was built from the ground up in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, attracting members through preaching and charitable work before spreading its influence into trade unions, universities, professional organizations and local government political races beginning in December 2004.
Hamas regards historic Palestine - present-day Israel as well as the Palestinian territories - as an inalienable Islamic waqf or religious bequest, which can never be surrendered to non-Muslims. It asserts that struggle (jihad) to wrest control of the land from Israel is a religious duty incumbent on every Muslim individually (fard `ain). This position is more radical than that now held by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which in 1988 recognized Israel's sovereignty. Hamas does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state and refers to it as the "Zionist entity", a common hostile term for it in Arab political rhetoric. It has, however, dropped from its electoral manifesto the call for its destruction.
According to the Washington Institute, Hamas views the Arab-Israeli conflict as "a religious struggle between Islam and Judaism that can only be resolved by the destruction of the State of Israel." Hamas uses both political activities and violence to pursue its goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel and the secular Palestinian Authority. As of 2004, Hamas' strength is concentrated in the Gaza Strip and a few areas of the West Bank. Israeli military operations during the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2002 put pressure on Hamas in the West Bank following several bombings in Israel for which Hamas claimed responsibility. Hamas has also engaged in peaceful political activity, such as running candidates in West Bank Chamber of Commerce elections. Hamas runs an extensive social service network including medical clinics, educational facilities and programs that support families of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks. While the group boycotted the 2005 Palestinian presidential election, it did participate in 2005 municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In those elections it won control of over one third of Palestinian municipal councils, besting Fatah, which has traditionally been "the biggest force in Palestinian politics." With this electoral success behind it, Hamas contested the 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.
On January 26, 2006 Hamas announced that they had won a majority of seats in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council, thereby supplanting the ruling Fatah party. In response, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei has said that he and the rest of the Palestinian Authority will resign, leaving Hamas to form a new government. After the victory, Israeli Human Rights organizations have called on Hamas to stop the terror campaign against civilians and to avoid using war crimes as a tool to achieve political solution.
According to UPI, Israel supported Hamas starting in the late 1970s as a "counterbalance to the PLO"., at that time, Hamas focus was on "religious and social work".
Hamas is an abbreviation of Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah (Arabic: Islamic Resistance Movement). The acronym corresponds to an Arabic word, meaning "enthusiasm, fire, ardor, fervor, zeal, fanaticism" (The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic). Its military wing is known as the Ezzedeen-al-qassam brigades, or the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades to commemorate Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the father of modern Arab resistance, killed by the British in 1935. Armed Hamas cells also sometimes refer to themselves as "Students of Ayyash," "Students of the Engineer," or "Yahya Ayyash Units," to commemorate Yahya Ayash, an early Hamas bomb-maker who was assassinated by Israel in 1996 for designing explosive devices used in operations that killed more than 50 Israelis.
The Hamas Covenant, written in 1988, states that the organization's goal is to "raise the banner of God over every inch of Palestine," i.e. to eliminate the State of Israel (and any secular Palestinian state which may be established), and to replace it with an Islamic Republic.
The thirty-six articles of the Covenant detail the movement's Islamist beliefs regarding the primacy of Islam in all aspects of life. The Covenant identifies Hamas as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and considers its members to be Muslims who "fear God and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors." Hamas describes resisting and quelling the enemy as the individual duty of every Muslim and prescribes revolutionary roles for all members of society; including men and women, professionals, scientists and students.
The slogan of Hamas is "God is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Qur'an its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of God is the loftiest of its wishes." Hamas states that its objective is to support the oppressed and wronged and "to bring about justice and defeat injustice, in word and deed." Hamas believes that "the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf (trust) consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day," and as such, the land cannot be negotiated away by any political leader. Hamas rejects "so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences" as incapable of realizing justice or restoring rights to the oppressed, believing "there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad."
The Hamas Covenant cites the long-discredited anti-Semitic fraud, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, describing it as "the embodiment of the Zionist plan to usurp Palestine". Hamas dismisses the Freemasons, Lions Club, and the Rotarians as organizations promoting "the interest of Zionism." It accuses those organizations, and the "Zionist invasion" in general, of being "behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds." It should also be noted, however, that a prominent analyst, former British intelligence agent Alistair Crooke, believes that Hamas' actual strategy differs greatly from their stated policy.
Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi a former Hamas leader reiterated beliefs of Holocaust denial, contending that the Holocaust did not occur in the manner described by Western historians and that Zionists at one time supported and funded Nazi activities.
The Hamas Convenant was substantially altered in January 2006 to remove calls for the destruction of Israel. This was done to make it more reflective of a dominant strain of thought within Hamas which over the last half decade has moved closer to that of the international community, i.e. to call for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967-occupied areas. Hamas now states that its sole military goal is the liberation of the Occupied Gaza Strip and the Occupied West Bank, which includes Annexed East Jerusalem. Hamas leaders have claimed that an end of israeli occupation will transform their struggle from a military one into a purely diplomatic one. While they refuse to acquiese in granting formal legitimacy to the zionist takeover of Palestine, they appear to acknowledge that this has become an irreversible fact, and for pragmatic reasons no longer call for the destruction of Israel.
Hamas was funded directly and indirectly during the 1970s and 1980s by various states including Saudi Arabia. The political/charitable arm of Hamas was officially registered and recognized within Israel at this time: indeed Israel supported and encouraged Hamas' early growth in an effort to undermine the secular Fatah movement of Yasser Arafat. Hamas abstained from politics throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, concentrating on social issues such as exposing corruption, administration of waqf (trusts) and organizing community projects. Towards the mid-80s, however, the movement was taken over by a militant faction led by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
The acronym "Hamas" first appeared in 1987 in a leaflet accusing Israeli intelligence services of undermining the moral fiber of Palestinian youth as part of their recruitment of "collaborators." The use of violence by Hamas appeared almost contemporaneously with the First Intifada, beginning with the punishment beating of collaborators, progressing to attacks against Israeli military targets and moving on to violence aimed at civilians. As its methods have changed over the last thirty years, so has its rhetoric, now effectively claiming that Israeli civilians are "military targets" by virtue of living in a state with a military draft.
According to the semi-official Hamas biography "Truth and existence," Hamas evolved through five main stages:
1.1967-1976:
Construction of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip
in the face of "oppressive Israeli rule";
2.1976-1981:
Geographical expansion through participation in
professional associations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and
institution building, notably al-Mujamma` al-islami, al-Jam`iyya
al-islamiyya, and the Islamic University in Gaza;
3.1981-1987:
Political influence through establishment of the
mechanisms of action and preparation for armed struggle;
4.1987:
Founding of Hamas as the combatant arm of the Muslim
Brotherhood in Palestine and the launching of a continuing Jihad.
5.2006:
Is elected the democratic representative government of the
Palestinian people. To verify the legitimacy of the election the event
was heavily monitored by 950 international observers.
While this reflects the activities of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the
organization in the West Bank developed differently, with less emphasis
at the beginning on the creation or control of public institutions. The
Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank constituted an integral part of the
Jordanian Islamic movement, which for many years had been aligned with
the Hashemite regime.Furthermore, the Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank represented a higher socio-economic profile, consisting of merchants, landowners, and middle-class officials and professionals. By the mid-1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood held a significant portion of the positions in West Bank religious institutions.
On January 26, 2004, senior Hamas official Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi offered a 10-year truce, or hudna, in return for a complete withdrawal by Israel from the territories captured in the Six Day War, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin stated that the group could accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Rantissi confirmed that Hamas had come to the conclusion that it was "difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we accept a phased liberation." He said the truce could last 10 years, though "not more than 10 years."
On March 22, 2004, Yassin was assassinated in an Israeli missile strike. Rantissi replaced him as the leader of Hamas. On March 28, Rantissi stated in a speech given at the Islamic University of Gaza City that "America declared war against God. Sharon declared war against God, and God declared war against America, Bush and Sharon."
On April 17, 2004, Rantissi was also assassinated in an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces, five hours after a fatal suicide bombing by Hamas. Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas in Syria, said Hamas should not disclose the name of its next leader in Gaza.
On April 18, 2004, Hamas secretly selected a new leader in the Gaza Strip, fearing he would be killed if his identity were made public. (NYT). However, Israel believes that the new leader is Mahmoud al-Zahar; the second-in-command, Ismail Haniya; and third-in-command, Sa'id A-Siyam.
As of 2004, Israeli military and intelligence sources believed that the Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been significantly weakened by Israeli military operations. Israeli sources have noted that no prominent attacks have been claimed by West Bank-based Hamas members (whereas bombings by the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades continued), even though the Hamas leadership had reputedly ordered an escalation of suicide attacks after the assassinations of Yassin and Rantissi. The West Bank has been under increased Israeli military control since Operation Defensive Shield was launched in April 2002, which severely limited the mobility and organization of the remaining Hamas membership.
In the Gaza Strip, on the other hand, Hamas is generally seen as a major force, rivalling Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
In 2004, in a prelude to the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces carried out a number of military attacks on Gaza cities and refugees camps, seeking to draw out and kill Hamas-affiliated gunmen. Awareness of high casualties during such incursions has led the Hamas leadership to instruct its activists to avoid putting themselves needlessly in the line of fire.
In September 2004, Israeli army chief Moshe Yaalon said that Israel would "deal with ... those who support terrorism," including those in "terror command posts in Damascus." On September 26, 2004, Hamas guerrilla leader Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil was assassinated by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria. Khalil was described variously as "mid-level," "senior," a "distinguished member," and "believed to be in charge of the group's military wing outside the Palestinian territories."
Although the Israeli government offered no official confirmation, anonymous Israeli officials acknowledged responsibility for the attack. In a statement released in Gaza, Hamas threatened to target Israelis abroad in retaliation.
On 12 September 2005 Israeli soldiers withdrew from the Gaza Strip and declared an official end to Israeli military rule in Gaza, although since Israel still retains control of the airspace and sea the Palestinan Authority argues the occupation is on-going.
Hamas claimed that the withdrawal was a victory for their armed struggle and pledged to liberate all Palestinian land. Israel had previously evacuated and dismantled Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas guerrillas, fighters from other factions and Palestinian civilians streamed into the evacuated and dismantled settlements and raised Palestinian and Hamas flags and scavenged in the rubble. Some synagogues, which were left standing, were burnt down.
The Israeli government now claims the onus is on the Palestinian Authority to crack down on Hamas and other "terrorist groups" in Gaza. The West Bank remains under Israeli occupation, and populated by Jewish settlers.
On 24 September 2005, a transport carrying Hamas rockets apparently exploded during one of the group's parades through Gaza, killing civilian spectators. Hamas claimed the parade had been attacked by an Israeli airstrike, and retaliated by firing Qassam rockets at Israel. The Palestinian Authority and Israel both denounced Hamas's claim as false. The P.A. demanded that Hamas end its use of those weapons.
On January 26, 2006, Hamas was reported to have won the Palestinian legislative elections with an absolute majority of 76 seats out of 132.
The wreckage of a commuter bus in West Jerusalem after a suicide bombing by Hamas on Tuesday, 18 June 2002. The blast killed 19 people.
Hamas invented the method of targeting civilian mass transit system via suicide bombers in order to maximize fear, terror and casualties.
Hamas used the 1994 Mosque of Abraham massacre in Hebron of 29 Muslim worshippers by Baruch Goldstein to justify its first suicide bombing. ince then, Hamas militants, especially those in the Ezzedeen-al-qassam Brigades, have conducted many attacks, including large-scale suicide bombings against Israeli civilian targets. The lagrest of these include the Passover massacre in March 2002, in which 30 people were killed in a terrorist attack while celebrating the Jewish festival of Passover; the Patt junction massacre (19 dead); the Jerusalem bus 20 massacre in November 2002 (11 dead); the Jerusalem bus 2 massacre in August 2003 (23 dead); and many more. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed in Hamas suicide attacks between the 2000 and 2004. While Hamas has largely observed a ceasefire throughout 2005, during the last five years Hamas has complete 58 suicide bombings.
Hamas has used female suicide bombers, including a mother of six and a mother of two children under the age of 10. Hamas claims that all suicide bombers volunteer for what Hamas terms "martyrdom operations" however an anonymous Israeli military source claims that one of the women was forced to commit these acts under threat of what is termed an "honour killing".
Hamas has also attacked Israeli military and security forces targets (mostly inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip and occasionally inside Israel), suspected Palestinian collaborators, and Fatah rivals.
Hamas shelled the Gush Katif Israeli settlements in Gaza with homemade mortars. About 5500 mortar shells have landed in Gush Katif, killing 3 people before the settlements were dismantled.
Since 2002, Hamas has used homemade Qassam rockets to hit Israeli towns in the Negev, such as Sderot. The introduction of the Qassam-2 rocket has allowed Hamas to reach large Israeli cities such as Ashkelon, bringing great concern to the Israeli populace and many attempts by the Israeli military to stop the proliferation and use of the rockets.
Hamas runs many relief and education programs. These programs are viewed variously as part of a sincere social development agenda, an integrated para-state policy, as propaganda and recruitment exercises, or both. Either way, they have significatly incresed literacy in the areas.
In addition to its paramilitary activities, Hamas funds a number of charitable activities, primarily in the Gaza Strip. These include religious institutions, medical facilities, and social needs of the area's residents. The work of Hamas in these fields is in addition to that provided by the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA). The charitable trust Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was accused in December 2001 of funding Hamas.
Hamas has an unknown number of hard-line members and tens of thousands of supporters and sympathizers. It receives funding from Palestinian expatriates, from the Islamist regime in Iran, and from private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and in other Arab states. Some fundraising and propaganda activity take place in Western Europe, North America and South America. Hamas has been known to use illicit drug sales to raise funds for its operations.
Hamas is believed to operate dozens of websites. A current listing can be found at Internet Haganah (External link below). The main website of Hamas provides translations of official communiques and propaganda in Urdu, Malay, Russian, English, and Arabic.
In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority is reportedly losing control to Hamas, especially in the Jabalia refugee camp and the neighboring town of Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, the Dir al-Balah area in the center of the Gaza Strip, Abasan to the south of it and the Dahaniyeh region in the south.
In 2004, a federal court in the United States found Hamas liable in a civil lawsuit for the 1996 murders of Yaron and Efrat Ungar near Beit Shemesh, Israel. Hamas has been ordered to pay the families of the Ungar's $116 million. On July 5, 2004, the court issued a default judgment against the Palestinian Authority and the PLO regarding the Ungar's claim that the Palestinian Authority and the PLO provide safe haven to Hamas.
On August 20, 2004, three Palestinians, one a naturalized American citizen, were charged with a "lengthy racketeering conspiracy to provide money for terrorist acts in Israel". The indicted include Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, senior member of Hamas, believed to be currently in Damascus, Syria and considered a fugitive. The two others — Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah of Chicago, Illinois and Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar of Alexandria, Va. — were arrested on August 19. The indictment states that Salah received $50,000 which was used over the course of the following three months to help Hamas finance eight terrorist attacks that resulted in the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians (Washington Times).
GAZA (Reuters 2006-01-26) - The Islamic militant group Hamas swept to victory over the long-dominant Fatah party on Thursday in Palestinian parliamentary polls, a political earthquake that could bury any hope for peace talks with Israel soon. Hamas won an overwhelming majority in the 132-seat legislature, taking 76 seats to Fatah's 43 in Wednesday's election, the official vote count showed. It gives Hamas the power to shape and possibly even lead the next cabinet.
The shock outcome does not automatically unseat President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate Fatah leader elected last year after Yasser Arafat's death. But he has said he might resign if unable to pursue a peace agenda. U.S. President George W. Bush appealed to Abbas to stay in office but took aim at Hamas, vowing Washington would not deal with an armed Palestinian group advocating Israel's destruction. Hamas rebuffed demands to disarm and change its charter. "Today we woke up and the sky was a different colour. We have entered a new era," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, of Fatah, said after Hamas claimed victory.
Fatah loyalists clashed with triumphant Hamas supporters who briefly raised their green flags at the entrance to the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah. Fatah activists trampled on one of the banners when it was lowered. Shots were fired nearby.
With peace talks stalled since 2000, and Israel and Hamas bitter enemies, Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could opt for more unilateral moves to determine Israel's borders on land that the Palestinians want for a state. It has already pulled its settlers out from the Gaza Strip without negotiations. Olmert, who took over from Ariel Sharon after he suffered a stroke three weeks ago, suggested as much in a speech this week in which he repeated that peace talks could not resume unless the Palestinian Authority disarmed militants.
Hamas, whose support among Palestinians is based partly on the suicide bombings it has mounted against Israel, geared its election campaign to public frustration over Fatah's failure to achieve statehood and its reputation for corruption.
The Islamic group's charity network in the impoverished Gaza Strip and in the West Bank also boosted its popularity. "Hamas did not win because people loved Hamas, but because people were taking revenge against the past years of Fatah rule," said Adel al-Helo, 41, a Gaza shopkeeper.
In its first official comment on the poll result, Israel urged the European Union to take a firm stance against the establishment of a Palestinian "terrorist government".
Leaders of the EU, the biggest donor to the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority, said earlier that Hamas must renounce violence and recognise Israel or risk international isolation.
Signal of discontent
In Washington, Bush said Hamas's victory was a sign that Palestinians were unhappy with the status quo and showed democracy at work, which was positive for the Middle East. But he stuck firmly to the U.S. view of Hamas as a terrorist group. It has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since the latest uprising began over five years ago. "I don't see how you can be a partner in peace if you advocate the destruction of a country as part of your platform," Bush told a news conference. "You can't be a partner in peace if ... your party has got an armed wing."
The United States is the main sponsor of the long-stalled "road map", a peace plan that charts mutual steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Fatah advocates a two-state solution to the conflict. Commentators in the Arab world predicted that pragmatism would eventually oblige Hamas to soften its position and Israel to talk to the new Palestinian leaders.
Hamas has largely respected a truce for nearly a year.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie of Fatah and his cabinet quit in the face of the Hamas victory. In the streets of Gaza, Hamas activists embraced, fired guns in the air and handed out sweets. Under Palestinian law, the biggest party in parliament can veto the president's choice of a prime minister, effectively enabling Hamas to shape the next cabinet.
Hamas's politburo chief Khaled Meshaal telephoned Abbas to affirm "a commitment to partnership with all the Palestinian forces, including the brothers in the Fatah movement". A Hamas leader in Gaza called for immediate talks on the issue.
But Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah official, rejected any coalition with Hamas, a group that Abbas had said he hoped to bring into the political mainstream and persuade to disarm.
Despite weeks of armed chaos before the poll, voting in the first parliamentary election since 1996 was orderly, with about 900 foreign observers led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter looking on. Turnout was 78 percent of the 1.3 million voters.
The Islamic group Hamas has won a huge majority in parliamentary elections as Palestinian voters rejected the long-time rule of the Fatah Party. Of the 132 seats in Parliament, Hamas won 76 and Fatah 43, the election commission announced on Thursday.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and his Cabinet resigned, even before the official results were announced, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was to ask Hamas to form the next government. The top Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, told Abbas his group is ready for a political partnership, Hamas said. And in a first sign of pragmatism, Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas official, said the group would extend its year-old truce if Israel reciprocates. "If not, then I think we will have no option but to protect our people and our land," he said.
Loyal opposition
Fatah legislator Saeb Erekat said the party does not want to join a Hamas government. "We will be a loyal opposition and rebuild the party," Erekat said, after meeting Abbas. But Nabil Shaath, another senior Fatah lawmaker, said the party's leadership would make a decision later on Thursday. Abbas was elected separately a year ago and remains president. However, the Palestinian leader has said he would resign if he could no longer pursue his peace agenda. The Cabinet and legislature must approve any major initiative by Abbas, giving Hamas tremendous influence over peace moves.
Hamas supporters streamed into the streets to celebrate. In the southern Gaza town of Rafah, supporters shot in the air and handed out candy. Others honked horns and waved Hamas flags from car windows. Hamas capitalized on widespread discontent with years of Fatah corruption and ineffectiveness. Much of its campaign focused on internal Palestinian issues, while playing down the conflict with Israel.
Mixed signals
Before the election, Hamas had suggested it would be content as a junior partner in the next government, thus avoiding a decision on its relationship with Israel. Throughout the campaign, leaders sent mixed signals, hinting they could be open to some sort of accommodation with Israel. Its apparent victory will now force it to take a clearer position on key issues. Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas candidate who won election in the northern Gaza Strip, said peace talks and recognition of Israel are "not on our agenda" but the group is ready for a partnership - presumably with Abbas. Some Hamas officials tried to reassure the world of its intentions. "Don't be afraid," Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, told the BBC. "Hamas is a Palestinian movement, it is an aware and mature movement, one which is politically open in the Palestinian arena, and to its Arab and Islamic hinterland, and similarly open to the international arena." This was the first time Hamas has contested a parliamentary vote. Half the seats in Wednesday's parliament vote were chosen on a national list and the other half by districts.
Advantage
Hamas apparently took advantage of divisions in Fatah; the long-ruling party fielded multiple candidates in many districts, splitting the Fatah vote.
Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, who apparently was re-elected on a moderate platform, said the Hamas victory was a dramatic turning point. She said she is concerned the fighters will now impose their fundamentalist social agenda and lead the Palestinians into international isolation. She said Fatah's corruption, Israel's tough measures and international indifference to the plight of the Palestinians were to blame for Hamas's strong showing.
Turnout for Wednesday's vote was heavy, with nearly 78% of 1.3 million eligible voters casting ballots. The polling stations were heavily guarded, and there were no reports of major violence
Gaza
Strip
Shaikh Ahmed Yassin - spiritual leader and founder of Hamas (killed by Israeli military operation, 2004)
Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi - leader in Gaza (killed by Israeli military operation, 2004)
Ibrahim al-Makadmeh - co founder of Hamas (killed by Israeli military operation, 2003)
Mahmoud al-Zahar - "political wing"
Ismail Haniya - "political wing"
Sa'id A-Siyam - "political wing"
Ismail Abu Shanab - "political wing" (killed by Israeli military operation, 2003)
Salah Shahade - leader of "military wing" (killed by Israeli military operation, 2002)
Mohammed Deif - leader of "military wing"
Adnan al-Ghoul - chief explosives expert in Gaza and "father of the Qassam rocket"(killed by Israeli military operation, 2004)
Umm Nidal - "the mother of martyrs"
West
Bank
Mohammad Taha - co founder of Hamas (arrested by Israel, March 2003)
Qawasameh clan in Hebron - provided local leaders and suicide bombers to Hamas (some members killed by Israeli military operationa, one arrested, 2002-2003)
Yahya Ayyash - the "Muhandees", a senior bomb-maker (killed by Israeli military operation, 1996)
Arab
and Muslim countries
Khaled Mashal - leader of Hamas, based in Damascus, believed to have fled to Iran in September 2004.
Mousa Abu Marzuk - Hamas senior, Damascus, believed to have fled Syria in September 2004.
Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil - Hamas mid-level, "military wing" (according to Israel) Damascus (killed by Israeli military operation, 2004)