"Our strategy is to defend ourselves against an occupying army and against settlers and settlements"
About this Quote
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the paraplegic cleric who co-founded Hamas during the First Intifada, cast Palestinian armed action as fundamentally defensive. By naming an "occupying army" and "settlers and settlements", he identifies two fronts: the formal military presence that enforces control and the civilian-led expansion that changes facts on the ground. The language stakes a claim to legitimacy, aligning the struggle with a widely recognized right to resist foreign occupation while presenting operations against settlements as part of resisting territorial encroachment.
The timing and biography matter. Yassin emerged as a rival to the secular, negotiation-focused leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, especially after the Oslo Accords faltered and settlement growth continued. He framed Hamas not only as a militant actor but as a social movement rooted in mosques, charities, and neighborhoods, depicting armed action as protection of community and land. When he was killed by an Israeli airstrike in 2004, Gaza still contained Israeli settlements; the line between military and civilian presence was physically proximate and often blurred, with settlers armed and guarded by soldiers.
The formulation also reveals the moral and legal tension at the core of the conflict. International law broadly deems West Bank settlements illegal and recognizes the right of peoples under occupation to resist, yet it also forbids targeting civilians. Yassin’s framing seeks the moral high ground by calling all fronts defensive, but Hamas’s record has included attacks that killed civilians, drawing strong international condemnation and reinforcing Israel’s self-presentation as acting in self-defense.
Strategically, the statement signals asymmetric warfare aimed at raising the costs of occupation and settlement, leveraging geography and demographics where conventional parity is impossible. Politically, it distinguishes Hamas from Palestinian actors who bet on diplomacy, appealing to constituencies angered by checkpoints, land seizures, and stalled talks. The concise pairing of army and settlers encapsulates a worldview in which military control and demographic expansion are inseparable pillars of an ongoing occupation, and resistance is cast as a duty rather than a choice.
The timing and biography matter. Yassin emerged as a rival to the secular, negotiation-focused leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, especially after the Oslo Accords faltered and settlement growth continued. He framed Hamas not only as a militant actor but as a social movement rooted in mosques, charities, and neighborhoods, depicting armed action as protection of community and land. When he was killed by an Israeli airstrike in 2004, Gaza still contained Israeli settlements; the line between military and civilian presence was physically proximate and often blurred, with settlers armed and guarded by soldiers.
The formulation also reveals the moral and legal tension at the core of the conflict. International law broadly deems West Bank settlements illegal and recognizes the right of peoples under occupation to resist, yet it also forbids targeting civilians. Yassin’s framing seeks the moral high ground by calling all fronts defensive, but Hamas’s record has included attacks that killed civilians, drawing strong international condemnation and reinforcing Israel’s self-presentation as acting in self-defense.
Strategically, the statement signals asymmetric warfare aimed at raising the costs of occupation and settlement, leveraging geography and demographics where conventional parity is impossible. Politically, it distinguishes Hamas from Palestinian actors who bet on diplomacy, appealing to constituencies angered by checkpoints, land seizures, and stalled talks. The concise pairing of army and settlers encapsulates a worldview in which military control and demographic expansion are inseparable pillars of an ongoing occupation, and resistance is cast as a duty rather than a choice.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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