This monograph considers the changing fortunes of the Palestinian
movement, HAMAS, and the recent outcomes of Israeli strategies aimed
against this group and Palestinian nationalism external to the Fatah
faction of the Palestinian Authority. The example of HAMAS challenges
much of the current wisdom on "insurgencies" and their containment. As
the author, Dr. Sherifa Zuhur, demonstrates, efforts have been made to
separate HAMAS from its popular support and network of social and
charitable organizations. These have not been effective in destroying
the organization, nor in eradicating the will to resist among a fairly
large segment of the Palestinian population. It is important to consider
this Islamist movement in the context of a region-wide phenomenon of
similar movements with local goals, which can be persuaded to relinquish
violence, or which could move in the opposite direction, becoming more
violent.