Hamas : Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad

by Matthew Levitt; Foreword by Dennis Ross

• ISBN13: 9780300110531
• ISBN10: 0300110537
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2006-05-01
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

How does a group that operates terror cells and espouses violence become a ruling political party? How is the world to understand and respond to Hamas, the militant Islamist organization that Palestinian voters brought to power in the stunning election of January 2006? This important book provides the most fully researched assessment of Hamas ever written. Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism expert with extensive field experience in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, draws aside the veil of legitimacy behind which Hamas hides. He presents concrete, detailed evidence from an extensive array of international intelligence materials, including recently declassified CIA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security reports. Levitt demolishes the notion that Hamas' military, political, and social wings are distinct from one another and catalogues the alarming extent to which the organization's political and social welfare leaders support terror. He exposes Hamas as a unitary organization committed to a militant Islamist ideology, urges the international community to take heed, and offers well-considered ideas for countering the significant threat Hamas poses.

Author Biography

This book was written while Matthew Levitt was a senior fellow and director of terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Department of the Treasury or the United States Government.
 
Since November 2005, Matthew Levitt has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Prior to joining the Treasury, Dr. Levitt directed the Washington Institute’s terrorism studies program and taught at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Dr. Levitt has also served as an FBI analyst providing tactical and strategic analysis in support of counterterrorism operations. His special focus has been on fundraising and logistical support networks for Middle East terrorist groups. He holds an M.A. in law and diplomacy and a Ph.D. in international relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
 

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Ambassador Dennis Ross
Introduction: Hamas' Muddied Waters	1	(7)
Origins of the Hamas Dawa	8	(25)
Terror and the Hamas Political Leadership	33	(19)
Economic Jihad: How Hamas Finances Terror	52	(28)
The Logistics of Terror: Tactical Uses of the Dawa	80	(27)
Teaching Terror: How the Dawa Radicalizes Palestinian Society	107	(36)
Foreign Funding of Hamas	143	(28)
State Support for Hamas	171	(32)
Will Hamas Target the West?	203	(26)
Displacing the Hamas Dawa	229	(22)
Acknowledgments	251	(2)
Notes	253	(62)
Index	315