Hamas’ Perception of Resistance and Its Practice

Abstract

This paper is aimed at exploring Hamas’ perception of resistance and its practice. Hamas, an acronym of Islamic Resistance Movement in Arabic, currently dominates Gaza. Since its inception in 1987, Hamas has always claimed that resistance is the way to end the Israeli occupation. Owing to the fact that Hamas carried out suicide bombings inside Israel and launched several wars with Israel in recent years, Hamas is considered as a terrorist group in most academic literature. But some indicates that Hamas’ engagement of politics is a form of pragmatism. This paper argues that these two evaluations fail to grasp the essence of Hamas. Instead, the evaluation of Hamas could be through Hamas’ perception of resistance and its practice. The concept of resistance is comprehensive and intertwined with Palestinian nationalism and the thought of the Muslim Brotherhood. In spite of the fact that Hamas is in isolation, it is expected that Hamas would preserve the resistance in order to restore the fundamental rights of Palestinians.

本研究探討哈馬斯（Hamas）的抵抗（Resistance）理念與實踐。哈馬 斯全名為伊斯蘭抵抗組織（The Islamic Resistance Movement），現今是加薩 （Gaza）的實際管理者。從1987年底成立起，哈馬斯主張透過抵抗手段結束以 色列的占領。由於過去哈馬斯在以色列境內從事自殺炸彈活動，以及這幾年與 以色列之間的戰爭關係，在多數西方學術文獻中，哈馬斯被視為好戰團體或恐 怖組織。然而，也有學者注意到哈馬斯從事政治參與後，不再特意強化軍事活 動，是一種務實的表現。本文認為上述這兩類評價，未必能真正理解哈馬斯的 本質。若要評價哈馬斯，或許可從哈馬斯的抵抗理念與實踐方式的角度著手。 哈馬斯的抵抗理念是一個整體性的概念，深受巴勒斯坦民族主義與穆斯林兄弟 會思潮影響。即使今日哈馬斯面臨孤立與邊緣化的處境，在可預見的將來，哈 馬斯仍會堅持抵抗理念，爭取收復巴勒斯坦人的基本權利。