The surprise attack by Hamas fighters who killed more than 1,200 Israelis, triggering another war in the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict, is focusing the world’s attention on the origins and aims of the Islamic movement that was founded in 1988.
In this episode of History As It Happens, George Washington University political scientist Nathan Brown discusses the roots of Hamas’ refusal to negotiate over the control of contested land, its embrace of terrorist violence to achieve its goals, and the ways Israeli leaders have dealt with Hamas since its emergence during the first intifada of 1987 to 1991.
“The situation in the late 1980s was similar to the situation right now. There was no real, viable diplomatic process between Israelis and Palestinians, Palestinians were feeling hopeless… so it was in that context that Hamas comes out and presents itself to the world,” said Mr. Brown, who said the movement immediately opposed the secular nationalists of Yasser Arafat’s PLO while assuming an uncompromising approach to the peace process than began in the early 1990s.
Since Saturday’s devastating attack, critics in the Israeli press have blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “partnering” with Hamas to discredit the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and, therefore, wrecking the possibility of a two-state solution.
“The relationship between the Israeli leadership and Hamas was not a meeting of minds, and it was not anything that could be permanent and stable. You can go back to 2007 when Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip. There were a series of agreements explicitly negotiated based on the idea that Gaza can wait,” as successive Israeli and U.S. administrations turned their attention to the West Bank, Mr. Nathan said. Meanwhile, the situation grew ever more desperate in Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2008 and where the unemployment rate is about 50%.
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