Description

Hamas has ruled Gaza and the lives of the two million Palestinians who live there since 2006. Hamas Contained, first published in 2018, offers a history of the group, drawing on interviews with organization leaders and their publications. Tareq Baconi maps Hamas s thirty-year transition from fringe military resistance towards governance, culminating in Israeli efforts to contain the movement to the Gaza Strip. Baconi argues that under Israel s approach of managing rather than resolving the conflict, Hamas s demand for Palestinian sovereignty has effectively been marginalized in favor of military action against Hamas, and by implication, all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This dynamic-a violent equilibrium between Hamas and Israel and the movement s containment in the Gaza Strip-lasted for sixteen years, until it was decidedly shattered by Hamas s offensive on October 7, 2023. Now with new material that provides an analytical framework and reflection on Hamas s offensive of October 7, 2023, and Israel s ensuing war on Gaza, Hamas Contained is an even more essential guide to understanding Hamas and the brutal violence of Israel s war on Palestinians.