acronym of Ḥarakat al-Muqāwimah al-Islāmiyyah ("Islamic Resistance Movement")
(Arabic; " Zeal ")
Militant Palestinian Islamic movement.
The group is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian Islamic state. It was founded in 1988 by Sheikh Aḥmad Yāsīn, and its leadership comes from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood . Ḥamās's aims are more militant: it takes the position that Palestine cannot be surrendered to non-Muslims. It opposes the 1993 peace agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Beginning in 2000, the group engaged in violent acts, including numerous suicide bombings, against Israelis in Israel and the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.