Hamas rules Gaza and the lives of the two million Palestinians who live there. Demonized in media and policy debates, various accusations and critical assumptions have been used to justify extreme military action against Hamas. The reality of Hamas is, of course, far more complex. Neither a democratic political party nor a terrorist group, Hamas is a multifaceted liberation organization, one rooted in the nationalist claims of the Palestinian people. Hamas Contained offers the first history of the group on its own terms. Drawing on interviews with organization leaders, as well as publications from the group, Tareq Baconi maps Hamas's thirty-year transition from fringe military resistance towards governance. He breaks new ground in questioning the conventional understanding of Hamas and shows how the movement's ideology ultimately threatens the Palestinian struggle and, inadvertently, its own legitimacy. Hamas's reliance on armed struggle as a means of liberation has failed in the face of a relentless occupation designed to fragment the Palestinian people. As Baconi argues, under Israel's approach of managing rather than resolving the conflict, Hamas's demand for Palestinian sovereignty has effectively been neutralized by its containment in Gaza. This dynamic has perpetuated a deadlock characterized by its brutality-and one that has made permissible the collective punishment of millions of Palestinian civilians.
Tareq Baconi is a former Senior Analyst for Israel/Palestine and Economics of Conflict at the International Crisis Group, based in Ramallah. He serves as the president of the board of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network and the book review editor for the Journal of Palestine Studies. His writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, New York Times, and Washington Post, among others.
Author's Statement (2024) Preface (2018) 1. The Rise of Islamic Palestinian Nationalism 2. Military Resistance Comes Undone 3. The Politics of Resistance 4. Strangling Hamas 5. Institutionalizing the Division 6. Regional Misfortunes Conclusion: Containment and Pacification
"Groundbreaking, rigorously researched, and strikingly fair-minded, Hamas Contained is essential reading to understand Middle East politics today. Tareq Baconi weaves a counter-narrative, upending common assumptions about the controversial Islamic organization."-Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World "Hamas Contained is by far the best book on this vital topic. Meticulous and deeply sourced, this is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in Hamas, Palestine, Israel, or Islamist political movements anywhere in the Middle East."-Rashid Khalidi, author of Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East "Tareq Baconi has written a detailed and thoughtful book about the history of Hamas and its effect on the Palestinian national movement. Avoiding black and white simplifications, Baconi puts the story of Hamas within its proper context-the tragedy of an occupation."-Marwan Muasher, Vice President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace "Judicious and impartial, this important work adds nuance to the portrait of one of the Middle East's most divisive players."-Publishers Weekly "[Hamas's] status as an important component of the Palestinian struggle against Israel is ably chronicled by Tareq Baconi in Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance... [It] is well worth reading even today because it is thorough and comprehensive in scale and scope."-Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel "[Hamas Contained] probably gives the fullest background to the current situation in Gaza."-Duncan Bowie, Chartist "The book's main virtue is its chronological format. It covers Hamas's relatively brief existence - compared, say, to the much longer lifespan of the Muslim Brotherhood from which it derived - year by year, thereby giving the reader a fairly clear sense of how Hamas's perceptions and strategies have changed over time, particularly after Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005."-Steven Simon, Survival "Baconi's book remains invaluable. It is of crucial importance for anyone interested in understanding Hamas [and] the Palestinian struggle today."-Joseph Daher, Spectre
