In the aftermath of the 1982 exodus of the palestine liberation organization (PLO) from lebnon to Tunis, the palestinian resistance movement to Israeli occupation underwent a major transformation In the rew years following 1982, the internal dynamics of the palestinian movement vacillated between the extreme situations of geography and the nature of the struggle against Israel. With respect to geography, the center of weight of palestinian military and political leadership was moved to the...

In the aftermath of the 1982 exodus of the palestine liberation organization (PLO) from lebnon to Tunis, the palestinian resistance movement to Israeli occupation underwent a major transformation In the rew years following 1982, the internal dynamics of the palestinian movement vacillated between the extreme situations of geography and the nature of the struggle against Israel. With respect to geography, the center of weight of palestinian military and political leadership was moved to the furthest place from palestine since the rise of the palestine question earty in the twentieth century.
With respect to the nature of the struggle, the palestinian movement experienced the loss of its military alternative, however modest and found itself confined to unsatisfactory politidal means and appeals. During the same period two other developments pertaining to the geography and nature of the struggle took place. Geographically, the eruption of the palestinian popular uprising, or the historic territory of palestine for the first time since the Israeli occupation. Regarding the nature of struggle, the extreme employment of pyre political means, futile and stripped of any military capability after the resistance groups were forced to leave their bases in lebanon in 1982, Was replaced by the extreme of a costly but fruitful means of struggle-a widespread popular uprising throughout the west bank and Gaza strip.
The rapid transformation of the geography and nature of struggle brought with it new 'strugglers': the Islamic tesistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad as new palestinian organizations with great influence and specific coloration. This was not only a new point of departure for the palestinian political struggle; it was also the palestinian incarnation of politicized Islam in the Middle East. Within this context the transformation of the palestinian struggle and the emergence of (palestinian) Islamism, the study examines Hamas's political thought and practice.
The focus on Hams, withour covering otherk and less influential Islamic movements in palestine stems from the movements greater relevance to the wider context of the palestine question. Enjoying an acknowledged popularity and significant political and military weight, Hams has claimed that it represent the maintream of palestinian Islamism, claim with which most obwervers would agree this statusk then justifies an in-depth study of the Hamas movement