Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Following Hamas’s seizure of the Gaza Strip, many policy advisers confront the question of who can Washington bring to the negotiating table to forge peace with the Jewish State. Whilst some cling to Fatah as the only option, others advocate the opening of dialogues with the Islamic group in recognition of their legitimate claim to power. It is this paper’s assertion that whereas Hamas does enjoy greater legitimacy vis-à-vis Fatah, the organization suffers from a territorial paradox which plagues its prospects for pragmatic involvement. First, the Group is located mostly in Gaza. Second, the West Bank and Gaza are presumed by virtually all parties to the conflict to be the potential Palestinian state. Third, Hamas is committed to the establishment of a state over historical Palestine (present-day Israel.) Fourth, political arrangements to Hamas should be consistent with the Islamic notions of Dawla and Umma. While Hamas is more domestically legitimate, it cannot commit to a peace treaty with its neighbor without forgoing its legitimacy; hence lies the territorial paradox._x000d_The last part of our research question asks: 1) who can be supported to end the conflict without losing out to the radicals? 2) why did the Oslo Accords fail?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper strives to illustrate the role of religion in suicide operations conducted specifically by the Hamas in the Israeli-Palestinian arena of conflict. In doing so it contributes to the debate on the relationship between violence, Islam and the contemporary world and demonstrate that Hamas’s use of religious rhetoric to justify violence in fact facilitates a distinctly modern political agenda. I believe that the recent (re)focus on theology as an alternative value system is also engendering an othering process predicated on a confrontation between religion and the state. This othering process, echoing the West’s colonial-orientalist legacy, increasingly frames Muslims and Islam as implacable enemies to the Western Enlightenment project of modernity which uncoupled state and religion centuries ago. Therefore this paper also seeks to illustrate that, for the Hamas, there is no conflict between state, modernity and religion. Instead Hamas’s political ambitions are specifically state-oriented and the political language of religion, in this case of political Islam, is used specifically to grant legitimacy to the movement. Having done this, the paper will also locate jihad and consequently martyrdom operations as central themes in the political Islamic rhetoric adopted by Hamas. This paper thus argues that Hamas’s ability to resort to suicide operations is rooted in a radical interpretation of jihad and martyrdom and demonstrates how the build up of political Islamic rhetoric in the territories has increasingly facilitated the legitimisation of martyrdom operations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The Second Palestinian Intifada marked a new phase within
Palestinian terrorism—use of the suicide bombers. While not the first
to utilize such tactics, Hamas has become increasingly reliant on them
in their campaign against Israeli occupation. What is new is the age of
the bombers—the self-martyred youth. But why use youth? Are they simply
more susceptible to the fundamentalist rhetoric? Arguing that
self-martyring youth are not simply crazed, confused participants, but
strategically utilized and highly symbolic soldiers in a very modern
form of warfare, the proposed work examines the role of, and
recruitment to, suicide bombing within the Hamas. The work examines
Hamas’ recruitment literature and techniques, as well as their
indoctrination procedures, in order to understand the process by which
young recruits are ultimately transformed into self-martyrs. Only by
examining the ways in which youth martyrs are “cultivated” can we begin
to disrupt the flow of new recruits and understand the conditions that
make youth susceptible to radical politics in the first
place.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines how some women in Hamas have used the movement’s charter to expand the very gender roles outlined for them. The Charter stresses the importance of women bearing sons in the struggle for Palestine, acting as model homemakers and educating their children. It also emphasizes that the commandment to participate in jihad is equally incumbent upon men and women. Thus, a few women in Hamas have embraced jihad in the form of suicide bombers, and many others have tried. I argue that by demonstrating a strong commitment to this traditionally ‘masculine’ form of jihad, these women are able to challenge both Hamas’s definition of motherhood and the movement’s leadership.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: One of the most pressing foreign policy issues of the current US administration concerns the establishment of democracy in the Middle East. However, official communications about democracy and its practical application in the region are somewhat unclear and widely contested. Many Middle Eastern criticisms of US policy, including those made by some "terrorist" organizations, claim the US is inconsistent in promoting its ideals of democracy. In order to investigate such claims, this study analyzes US foreign policy messages about democracy in the Middle East, both before and after the elections in Lebanon and Palestine. A narrative analysis yields insights into the rhetorical techniques used by the administration to create an interpretive frame for rationalizing US policy and outlining its suggested role for democracy in the Middle East. The tenets of their messages are delineated to identify the consistency with which they suggest preferred readings for these two events.