Customer Reviews

Hamas: Political Thought and Practice

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In Hamas: Political Thought And Practice, Khaled Hroub, visiting fellow at the Center of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, surveys and analyzes the history and political perspectives of the Palestinian emancipation movement known as Hamas. Hroub shows how the movement came into being with the rise and evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Intifada. Hroub also examines and explains the political and combative aspects of the struggle, including the strategy of Hamas, the parties to the struggle, the nature of the struggle, and the international context in which the struggle is carried out. Other sections are devoted to the political relationships of Hamas with other Palestinian groups; Hamas' political relations to the Arab states and regimes; the United Nations and various international organizations; and the theory and practice of Hamas and political pluralism, democratic elections, social action, and military action. Hroub's informative and comprehensive text is enhanced with an appendices of five historical Hamas documents and a select bibliography for further study. Hamas is highly recommended for students of international studies in general, and the Arab/Palestinian/Israeli conflict in particular.

This book gives an excellent background on the politics of Hamas, its origins and the forces pulling it in different directions (both from within and outside). Sober analysis based primarily on the statements issued by Hamas itself and interviews with its political leaders. Unfortunately, because of when the book was written and published, it does not cover the impact of the 2nd intifada on Hamas (especially the assassinations of Ahmad Yasin and `Abd al-`Aziz al-Rantisi). Furthermore, one of my complaints is that at several times footnotes indicate that we can find the full text of certain statements of communiques in the Arabic version of the book -- however, one can imagine that these documents would be more useful in the English-language version of the book, since once can presumably find them more easily in Arabic (the source language) than translated into English. This is just a small gripe, though, and in general the book was thorough and compelling and, though sober and analytical, not overly academic in tone (i.e., it was pretty easy to read).

If you want to read sensationalized stories about suicide bombings and the like, this isn't the book for you. If you want to try to understand why Hamas is an ascendent force in Palestinian social and political life, then this is a great resource.

If you are looking for a book that will give you a better understanding of how the dark and confused underworld of anti-Israeli, anti-American and anti-West thinks and acts, this is a good book. It will give you a solid basic outline of the origins of Hamas, how it grew, how it's leaders think, and where Hamas fits in the spectrum of "anti-Zionist" organizations.

The author has a plodding writing style, not unlike that found in political science textbooks, but for the truly interested, there is enough grist to keep the mill of reading going steadily.

As an American, and as a person who believes that targeting civilians is murder in any armed conflict, this book is hard to read at times. Mr. Hroub declares at the outset of this book that he wrote it to be an impartial analysis of the Hamas movement, but that is a red herring. Mr. Hroub is clearly sypathetic to Hamas and, incredibly, to it's methods. However, if one wants to discover what really goes in inside an organization like Hamas I don't think one can be content with the analysis from people at a distance. To a certain extent, to know a criminal well, one has to become like him. Mr. Hroub knows what he is talking about, sadly.

This book is not excellent. What could be said in two pages is here said in twenty. Moreover, there is hardly anything new in chapters about Hamas relations with PLO or Arab states. I expected a lot more.

This book leaves out much to be desired.
You are better off reading "Islam Exposed" by Solomon Tulbure ISBN: 1932303456