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

Levitt, an intelligence analyst at the US Treasury Department, maintains that there is no distinction between the humanitarian activities of Hamas and its role as a militant and dangerous terrorist organization whose major objective is destruction of Israel and its replacement by a fundamentalist Islamic state. He traces the origin of Hamas to Palestinian offshoots of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. While describing such Hamas activities as establishment of schools, health clinics, and a variety of other social welfare activities and institutions, Levitt shows how funds raised throughout the world to support these efforts are fungible, i.e., frequently directed toward the paramilitary (terrorist) activities of Hamas. Funds for the ostensibly social welfare network (called the Dawa) are raised in the US and other Western countries through organizations including the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, labeled a "terrorist" affiliate by the US government. Levitt emphasizes that Hamas activities, both charitable and paramilitary, are supported by some governments, including Saudi Arabia and Iran. The author concludes that the Palestinians indeed urgently require humanitarian assistance and recommends that such aid be raised in the West through legitimate sources. The book includes over 60 pages of notes from a variety of sources. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through practitioners. D. Peretz emeritus, SUNY at Binghamton

Levitt, formerly a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and now a deputy assistant secretary in the Treasury Department, has completed a timely assessment of one of the world's most prolific terrorist organizations. As Hamas wields increasing power within the Palestinian Authority, Levitt offers a sobering analysis of the group's likely priorities and of the quickly dimming prospects for peace in this most intractable of conflicts. Probably the most comprehensive study of the tactics, finances and structures of the Islamic resistance movement ever published, many of the details will primarily interest the specialist. In nine heavily annotated chapters, Levitt explores Hamas's infrastructure, laying out detailed blueprints for indoctrination, money laundering, public outreach and militant activities, charting the anatomy of a typical attack down to the cost of each bullet. Levitt's well-documented assertion that there is essentially no separation between Hamas's military wing and its myriad charitable activities leaves him less sanguine than many commentators in the wake of the recent legislative elections. Levitt is likely to gain some enemies with evidence that, for instance, the Council on American-Islamic Relations is implicated in fund-raising for Hamas, but all his information is impeccably researched and compellingly presented. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Hamas's recent election as the governing agent of the Palestinian Authority makes this excellent book even more valuable. Levitt (deputy assistant secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury), a senior fellow and director of terrorism studies at the Washington Institute when writing this book (he defines the views as his and not necessarily those of the U.S. government), has assembled elusive sources concerning Hamas's operations, funding, and organization. He finds distinctive Hamas's carefully organized Dawa, its "social welfare administrative branch," a concept derived from Egypt's much older "Muslim Brotherhood." Established almost 60 years after its Egyptian counterpart, the Dawa organizes charitable and educational activities among an impoverished and marginalized population. Hamas's popular support is explained by its very synthesis of ruthless terror and local charity, especially for Palestinian families of those killed or imprisoned by Israel. Levitt urges his readers to recognize clearly the indispensable interdependence between Hamas's welfare and terror, insisting that the West provide humanitarian support that is "organized, comprehensive, and divorced from support for terrorist activity." Considering strategic "fault lines" within Hamas over the relative priority of the group's "Palestinian" and "Islamic" orientation, Levitt does not rule out a possible Hudna, "strategic cease-fire," with Israel. Without an attendant systematic analysis of Israel's Hamas policy, Levitt's advice that Western aid "displace" Hamas seems less convincing. For larger libraries. Zachary T. Irwin, Sch. of Humanities and Social Science, Penn State Univ.-Erie (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Hamas's recent election as the governing agent of the Palestinian Authority makes this excellent book even more valuable. Levitt (deputy assistant secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury), a senior fellow and director of terrorism studies at the Washington Institute when writing this book (he defines the views as his and not necessarily those of the U.S. government), has assembled elusive sources concerning Hamas's operations, funding, and organization. He finds distinctive Hamas's carefully organized Dawa , its "social welfare administrative branch," a concept derived from Egypt's much older "Muslim Brotherhood." Established almost 60 years after its Egyptian counterpart, the Dawa organizes charitable and educational activities among an impoverished and marginalized population. Hamas's popular support is explained by its very synthesis of ruthless terror and local charity, especially for Palestinian families of those killed or imprisoned by Israel. Levitt urges his readers to recognize clearly the indispensable interdependence between Hamas's welfare and terror, insisting that the West provide humanitarian support that is "organized, comprehensive, and divorced from support for terrorist activity." Considering strategic "fault lines" within Hamas over the relative priority of the group's "Palestinian" and "Islamic" orientation, Levitt does not rule out a possible Hudna , "strategic cease-fire," with Israel. Without an attendant systematic analysis of Israel's Hamas policy, Levitt's advice that Western aid "displace" Hamas seems less convincing. For larger libraries.--Zachary T. Irwin, Sch. of Humanities and Social Science, Penn State Univ.-Erie

Levitt, formerly a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and now a deputy assistant secretary in the Treasury Department, has completed a timely assessment of one of the world's most prolific terrorist organizations. As Hamas wields increasing power within the Palestinian Authority, Levitt offers a sobering analysis of the group's likely priorities and of the quickly dimming prospects for peace in this most intractable of conflicts. Probably the most comprehensive study of the tactics, finances and structures of the Islamic resistance movement ever published, many of the details will primarily interest the specialist. In nine heavily annotated chapters, Levitt explores Hamas's infrastructure, laying out detailed blueprints for indoctrination, money laundering, public outreach and militant activities, charting the anatomy of a typical attack down to the cost of each bullet. Levitt's well-documented assertion that there is essentially no separation between Hamas's military wing and its myriad charitable activities leaves him less sanguine than many commentators in the wake of the recent legislative elections. Levitt is likely to gain some enemies with evidence that, for instance, the Council on American-Islamic Relations is implicated in fund-raising for Hamas, but all his information is impeccably researched and compellingly presented. (May)