Hamas : politics, charity, and terrorism in the service of jihad

Abstract

"Published in cooperation with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-314) and index

Origins of the Hamas dawa -- Terror and the Hamas political leadership -- Economic jihad : how Hamas finances terror -- The logistics of terror : tactical uses of the dawa -- Teaching terror : how the dawa radicalizes Palestinian society -- Foreign funding of Hamas -- State support for Hamas -- Will Hamas target the West? -- Displacing the Hamas dawa

"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 book provides the most complete and fully documented 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 that Hamas hides behind. He presents concrete, detailed evidence from an extensive array of international intelligence materials, including recently declassified CIA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security reports."

"In the book, Levitt demolishes what he terms the myth of disparate wings in Hamas. The notion that the organization's military, political, and social "wings" are distinct from one another is belied by ample evidence. In fact, the records show, Hamas meets in the mosques and hospitals it maintains to plan its terror attacks, buries caches of arms and explosives under its own schoolyard playgrounds, and transfers and launders funds for terrorist activity through local charity committees. This book catalogues the alarming extent to which the group's political and social welfare leaders support terrorism." "Matthew Levitt exposes the real Hamas: an organization that threatens peace and security far beyond the borders of the West Bank and Gaza. Levitt urges the international community to take heed, and he offers ideas for countering the threat Hamas poses."--P. [4] of cover