Where does Hamas come from?

Answer 1

They were established by Israel as a counterbalance to the PLO.

Meanwhile, back on Earth . . .

Based on the principles of Islamic fundamentalism gaining momentum throughout

the Arab world in the 1980s, Hamas was founded in 1987 (during the First Intifada)

as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Co-founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin

stated in 1987 and the Hamas Charter affirmed in 1988 that Hamas was founded to

liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation and to establish an Islamic state in the area

that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

Answer 2

Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip and the largest and most influential Palestinian militant movement along with the more moderate Fatah party and has a military wing called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas is viewed by most Western analysts as an obstacle to the Arab-Israeli peace process and the goal of a two-state solution. As a result, Western nations, including the United States, have tried to embolden the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority while isolating Hamas, which has historically kept strong ties to Iran.

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Hamas was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian spiritual leader who became an activist in the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo. Beginning in the late 1960s, Yassin preached and performed charitable work in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, both of which were seized by Israeli forces following the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1973, he established al-Mujamma' al-Islami (the Islamic Center) to coordinate the Brotherhood's political activities in Gaza.

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Hamas' primary base of popular support is in the Gaza Strip, where it has maintained de facto control since its 2006, when it surprised many observers by winning the majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament. Hamas ousted the remnants of Fatah from Gaza by force in early 2007, and the new Hamas-led government was summarily dismissed by PA president and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas. The result of the bloodshed was a de facto geographic division of Palestinian-held territory, with Hamas holding sway in Gaza and Fatah maintaining the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

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Hamas' control over the area was established after the Hamas party won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006,[4] and ousted Fatah officials during the Battle of Gaza in 2007.[5] Fatah, Hamas' political and military rival, controls the West Bank.[6] Both regimes - the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas administration - regard themselves as the sole legitimate Palestinian government.