The Middle Eastern terrorist organization Hamas committed suicide bombings in every year that the group was involved in the Palestinian electoral process, according to a 2008 University of Maryland study about Hamas’ behavior.
“The single biggest finding was in years Hamas was involved in the formal Palestinian political process, they were likely to carry out violent attacks,” Aaron Mannes, one of four researchers involved with the study, said of the results. Mannes specializes in the study of terrorism at the University of Maryland.
But the data doesn’t signify that Hamas’ involvement in the Palestinian political process will always be a precursor for suicide attacks by the terrorist organization. The group carries out suicide attacks when not involved in the electoral process, too. Therefore, the risk for suicide attacks by Hamas doesn’t necessarily rise when the Palestinian political process is involved.
The study was performed by Amy Silva, V.S. Subrahmanian, Jonathan Wilkenfeld and Mannes. The information gleaned by Hamas’ behavior for the study was collected by the Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) at the University of Maryland. The information was then processed by Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents (SOMA), which is also on the campus.
Hamas was founded in 1987 as a Muslim organization whose aim was to gain political power and govern by the tenets of Islamic fundamentalism. Hamas won the Palestinian elections in January 2007 and essentially took control of the Gaza Strip in the middle of 2007. The Gaza Strip borders Israel and the Mediterranean Sea. One of the main goals of Hamas is to abolish Israel. “Palestinians feel [Israel] should be their state,” said Mannes.
Hamas consistently partakes in violence as a means to achieve their goals, most of which involve trying to extinguish Israel – Hamas has a long history of violence towards Israel. The study examined the behavior involved in five violent activities by Hamas – suicide attacks, bombings, kidnappings, domestic civilian infrastructure destruction, and participation in criminal activity.
Hamas’ social services played a significant role in suicide attacks, bombings and kidnappings. Providing social services was a major strategy in 91 percent of suicide attacks. Hamas performed bombings in all of the years which they provided social services, while the study found Hamas to be 83 percent likely to carry out a kidnapping at times in which they provided social services while involved in a conflict with another organization.
Probability that Hamas Carries Out Violent Attacks
Inter-Palestinian politics matters a lot to Hamas, according to Mannes, because Hamas and Fatah are constantly jockeying for power over control of Gaza and the West Bank. For instance, if Fatah is trying to negotiate with Israel, Hamas might jump in with violent actions to assert their power.
But should America fear Hamas? “Directly? Not much,” said Mannes. “Hamas does not really have the capacity to carry out long-distance attacks.
“Their focus is on Israel.”
