By AI-ChatGPT5-T.Chr.-Human Syntheasis- 26 September 2025

HAMAS is a Palestinian Islamist political and militant organization.

Origins and Identity

• Name: HAMAS is an acronym in Arabic for Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya (Islamic Resistance Movement). The word "ḥamās" itself also means zeal or strength.
• Founded: 1987, during the First Intifada (Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation).
• Roots: Emerged from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, blending Palestinian nationalism with Islamic ideology.

Political Role

• HAMAS functions both as a political party and a social movement.
• It has a strong social services wing that provides education, healthcare, and welfare to Palestinians, particularly in Gaza.
• In 2006, HAMAS won a majority in Palestinian legislative elections, defeating the rival Fatah party.
• Since 2007, after violent clashes with Fatah, HAMAS has been the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian Authority (led by Fatah) governs parts of the West Bank.

Military Wing

• The armed faction of HAMAS is called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
• It conducts rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and other forms of armed resistance against Israel, which HAMAS views as occupying Palestinian land.

International Status

• HAMAS is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Egypt, and others.
• Some countries (e.g., Russia, Turkey, China) do not classify it as a terrorist group, instead treating it as a legitimate political actor.

Goals

• Originally, HAMAS’s 1988 charter called for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state in historic Palestine.
• In 2017, it issued a new policy document softening its stance, stating opposition to Israel’s occupation but accepting a Palestinian state within 1967 borders (Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem) without formally recognizing Israel.

Present Context

• HAMAS remains central in the Israel–Palestine conflict, especially in Gaza.
• Its popularity among Palestinians fluctuates, rising in times of conflict with Israel due to its resistance stance, but declining when governance issues (poverty, blockades, repression) take priority.

HAMAS

• Founded: 1987, during the First Intifada.
• Ideology: Islamist, rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Base of Power: Gaza Strip (since 2007).
• Tactics: Armed resistance (rockets, attacks, tunnels) and social services.
• View of Israel: Opposes recognition of Israel, considers it an occupier.
• Supporters: Backed by Iran, Qatar, and some other regional actors.

Fatah

• Founded: Late 1950s, led historically by Yasser Arafat.
• Ideology: Secular Palestinian nationalism.
• Base of Power: West Bank (through the PA).
• Tactics: Initially armed struggle, but since the 1990s, mainly diplomacy and negotiation (Oslo Accords).
• View of Israel: Officially recognizes Israel’s right to exist; seeks a two-state solution.
• Supporters: Has enjoyed Western and Arab state backing, particularly from the U.S., EU, Egypt, Jordan.

Palestinian Authority (PA)

• Created: 1994, as part of the Oslo Accords between the PLO (dominated by Fatah) and Israel.
• Role: Meant to be a temporary self-government in parts of the West Bank and Gaza, until final peace settlement.
• Leadership: Currently led by Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah).
• Control: Exercises limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank under Israeli oversight. Lost control of Gaza to HAMAS in 2007.

Main Difference in Today’s Reality

• Gaza Strip: Controlled by HAMAS (Islamist rule, resistance-focused).
• West Bank: Governed by the PA, dominated by Fatah (secular, diplomacy-focused).
• The split has deeply weakened Palestinian unity, making peace talks and statehood efforts harder.
• HAMAS = Islamist, militant, rules Gaza.
• Fatah = Secular nationalist, rules PA in West Bank.
• PA = Administrative body (born from peace process), but split between Fatah (West Bank) and HAMAS (Gaza).

It really is a conundrum

On one hand, Palestinians are supposed to be represented by a single leadership through the Palestinian Authority, but in reality, they are split between two rival powers:

• HAMAS in Gaza: emphasizes resistance and military strength, but its rule has brought repeated wars, isolation, and suffering under blockade.
• Fatah in the West Bank: emphasizes diplomacy, but is seen by many Palestinians as corrupt, ineffective, and too compromised with Israel.

This division leaves the Palestinian people caught in the middle, with:

• No unified voice on peace negotiations.
• No clear path to statehood.
• Two very different visions of how liberation should be achieved.

Meanwhile, Israel often benefits strategically from this split, since a divided Palestinian leadership is weaker and less able to negotiate collectively.

It’s like a family fighting inside its own house while the house itself is under siege.

Before WWII

• Palestine was under British Mandate after World War I, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
• The land was inhabited mostly by Palestinian Arabs (Muslims and Christians), with a smaller Jewish minority.
• Zionist immigration increased during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially after pogroms in Europe.

After WWII

• The Holocaust killed around 6 million Jews, leaving a global sense of urgency to find a safe homeland.
• Jewish survivors were stateless, scattered in refugee camps, and often unwanted in their old European homes.
• The Zionist movement pushed harder for a Jewish state in Palestine, where there was already an established Jewish community.

UN Partition Plan (1947)

• The United Nations proposed splitting Palestine into two states: one Jewish, one Arab, with Jerusalem under international control.
• Jewish leaders accepted, though reluctantly.
• Arab leaders rejected, arguing it was unfair since Palestinians still made up about two-thirds of the population and owned most of the land.

1948 War & Creation of Israel

• In 1948, Israel declared independence. Neighboring Arab states invaded.
• Israel won, but over 700,000 Palestinians were displaced (the Nakba, or “catastrophe”), creating the refugee crisis that persists to this day.
• The Palestinian state proposed by the UN never materialized — the West Bank was annexed by Jordan, and Gaza by Egypt until 1967.

The Heart of the Issue

The point — that Jews could have been resettled back in their pre-war countries — was actually discussed at the time. Many Jewish survivors did try to return to Poland, Germany, and other places, but often faced renewed anti-Semitism and even violence (for example, the Kielce pogrom in Poland in 1946). That reality pushed many Jews toward the idea that only a sovereign homeland would guarantee their survival.

For Palestinians, however, this meant they paid the price for Europe’s crimes — losing land, homes, and self-determination.

So in the end, we have two powerful, painful truths colliding:

• For Jews, Israel was a haven after genocide.
• For Palestinians, it was a dispossession and catastrophe.

That’s the tragic conundrum still unresolved today.

1. Numbers after the Holocaust

• Before WWII, Europe’s Jewish population was around 9.5 million.
• The Nazis murdered roughly 6 million Jews, leaving about 3–4 million survivors (depending on how you count refugees, displaced persons, and those in Soviet territories).
• Other victim groups (Roma, disabled, Slavs, political prisoners, etc.) also numbered in the millions, but the Holocaust is remembered most strongly for the systematic extermination of Jews as an ethnic group.

2. Why the Priority?

• Moral shock: After liberation of the camps (Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, etc.), images of skeletal survivors horrified the world. Jews were seen as uniquely targeted for annihilation.
• Displaced Persons crisis: Hundreds of thousands of Jewish survivors refused to return to their homelands in Poland, Germany, Hungary, etc., because they faced hostility and renewed pogroms.
• Zionist lobbying: The Zionist movement, active since the late 19th century, had a clear political agenda: a Jewish homeland in Palestine. They pressed Britain, the U.S., and the UN hard.
• Western guilt: Many governments (U.S., UK, etc.) had limited Jewish immigration during the war, effectively trapping Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. Supporting Israel afterward was partly seen as atonement.

3. The Jewish State in NE Russia

You’re referring to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the Soviet Far East (Birobidzhan), near the Chinese border.

• Founded: 1934 by Stalin, as a socialist alternative to Zionism.
• Reality: It was remote, undeveloped, harsh climate, and never attracted more than about 30,000 Jews. Most preferred to migrate to bigger cities like Moscow, Leningrad, or abroad.
• After WWII, it was not considered a realistic solution for Europe’s Jewish refugee crisis.

4. Why Palestine, Not Elsewhere?

• For Jews, Palestine had deep religious and historical meaning (Zion, Jerusalem, biblical homeland).
• For Zionists, this gave their movement legitimacy and emotional pull.
• Britain, which still controlled Palestine under mandate, was overwhelmed by violence between Arabs and Jews, and turned the problem over to the UN in 1947.
• The UN voted for partition — essentially choosing Palestine as the solution, despite Arab opposition.

5. The Palestinian Dilemma

And here’s the core injustice:

• Palestinians had no role in the Holocaust, yet their land was divided and many were displaced.
• The sense that they were made to pay for Europe’s crimes remains one of the deepest grievances in the Arab world.
• Jews were given priority partly because of unique targeting and extermination during the Holocaust, partly because of Zionist pressure, and partly because the West wanted a “solution” that didn’t involve absorbing millions of Jewish refugees into their own countries.
• The Soviet “Jewish state” in Birobidzhan was never viable, and for most Jews had no emotional or religious pull compared to Palestine.

Who the Nazis Targeted

• Jews: Around 6 million killed — entire communities across Europe were wiped out. The Nazis’ Final Solution explicitly sought to eradicate every Jew, regardless of age, gender, or location.
• Roma (Gypsies): 200,000–500,000 murdered. They were also targeted for total extermination.
• Disabled people: Around 250,000 killed under the “T4” euthanasia program.
• Slavs (especially Poles, Russians, Ukrainians): Millions died from executions, forced labor, starvation policies. They were seen as “subhuman,” though not slated for total extermination in the same way as Jews.
• Political opponents, resistance fighters, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals: Tens of thousands were persecuted and killed.

Why Jews Were Given Priority After WWII

1. Uniqueness of Nazi policy:
   • The Nazis had a singular, explicit plan to exterminate every Jew, everywhere.
   • With other groups, even though atrocities were horrific, there wasn’t the same global totality of intent.
2. Displaced Persons (DP) reality:
   • At the war’s end, about 250,000 Jewish survivors were stuck in camps across Europe.
   • Roma survivors were often forcibly repatriated, and many Slavs had homelands to return to, however devastated.
   • Jews often had nowhere safe to go, as they faced hostility if they returned home (e.g., anti-Jewish pogroms in Poland in 1946).
3. Zionist movement already existed:
   • For decades before WWII, Zionist leaders had been preparing for a homeland in Palestine.
   • There wasn’t an equivalent political movement for other persecuted groups to demand a state of their own.
4. Western guilt and politics:
   • The Holocaust created a moral shock. Western governments knew they had failed to protect Jews during the war.
   • Supporting a Jewish homeland became a way to show “atonement.”
   • Other victim groups didn’t receive the same political advocacy or global sympathy.

The Tragic Result

• This preference solved one group’s statelessness but created another group’s statelessness — the Palestinians.
• Roma, for example, never got a homeland, and their genocide was long under-recognized.
• Slavic suffering was immense, but those populations remained tied to national states (Poland, USSR, Yugoslavia).

It wasn’t that Jewish suffering was the only suffering — but the combination of systematic extermination policy, political mobilization, and international guilt made Jews the central focus after WWII.

1. Legality and “Occupation”

• When Israel was created in 1948, it was based on the UN Partition Plan (Resolution 181, 1947). The UN had legal authority under international law to recommend partition because Palestine was still a British Mandate territory.
• Jewish leaders accepted the plan, Arab leaders rejected it. When Israel declared independence, Arab armies invaded. Israel survived, but in the process displaced 700,000+ Palestinians (Nakba).
• From the Palestinian and Arab view: this was colonialism backed by Western powers, not legitimate statehood.
• From the Israeli/Jewish view: it was the realization of a legitimate national movement (Zionism) and UN approval gave it legality.
• Later events — especially Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem — are clearly considered illegal under international law, since the UN Charter forbids acquiring territory by war.

2. Why Europe and the U.S. Pushed Palestine as the Solution

• You’re right: most Western countries did not want Jewish refugees back after WWII. Immigration quotas remained tight.
• Supporting Israel became a convenient way for Europe and the U.S. to relieve themselves of responsibility while appearing moral.
• This left Palestinians — who had no role in the Holocaust — carrying the burden.

3. Roots of Jewish–Non-Jewish Tensions

• Historical resentment toward Jews in Europe and the Middle East often had less to do with religion itself than with social roles:
  • In Christian Europe, Jews were often forced into professions like moneylending, which fueled stereotypes of greed.
  • In Muslim lands, Jews were tolerated as “People of the Book,” but lived as second-class citizens (dhimmi) under Islamic law.
• Over centuries, these conditions built layers of prejudice, which later morphed into modern anti-Semitism.
• For Palestinians, the influx of Zionist immigrants in the early 20th century was seen not just as religious outsiders, but as European settlers supported by colonial powers (Britain, later the U.S.).

4. The Heart of the Injustice

Your feeling highlights the double injustice:

• Jews suffered immensely in Europe, yet instead of Europe absorbing them back, the solution created new suffering for Palestinians.
• Palestinians lost their homes, land, and freedom for crimes they did not commit.
• This set the stage for 75 years of conflict, war, and distrust that continues today.

A Difficult Truth

Both narratives are real:

• For Jews, Israel was survival.
• For Palestinians, Israel was dispossession.

That contradiction has never been resolved, and it’s why the conflict remains so raw.

1. Trauma Shapes Nations

• The Holocaust was not just a catastrophe — it became the core identity of the modern State of Israel: “Never Again.”
• For many Israelis, this means never again allow Jews to be vulnerable. That often translates into overwhelming military strength and preemptive action.
• Unfortunately, this trauma lens sometimes justifies disproportionate force, because every threat is seen through an existential survival filter.

2. The Gaza Reality

• Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world.
• When Israel bombs or invades in response to Hamas attacks, the result is inevitably massive civilian casualties.
• International monitors (UN, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch) have repeatedly warned that Israel’s use of force often crosses the line into collective punishment — which is illegal under international law.

3. Why So Many Civilians?

• 65,000+ dead civilians (if that number holds) reflects:
  • Indiscriminate or disproportionate Israeli strikes.
  • Hamas operating inside civilian areas, which Israel uses to justify bombings.
  • Lack of safe refuge — borders closed, shelters inadequate, humanitarian aid blocked.
• The effect is devastating: civilians — not fighters — pay the highest price.

4. The Paradox

• A people who survived genocide now inflict large-scale suffering on another people.
• Some call it revenge, others call it security necessity, but from the outside, it looks like history repeating in reverse — the oppressed becoming the oppressors.

5. Why This Happens

• Fear: Israelis genuinely believe that without crushing Hamas, they risk annihilation.
• Politics: Leaders (like Netanyahu) use military escalation to maintain power, even if it worsens Palestinian suffering.
• Dehumanization: Just as Jews were once dehumanized, Palestinians today are often portrayed in Israeli discourse as a faceless, hostile mass.

6. The Global Outrage

• Around the world, many see Israel’s actions not as self-defense but as state violence and collective punishment.
• Survivors of the Holocaust themselves, like Israeli human rights groups and Jewish voices abroad, often speak out, saying: “Never Again must mean never again for anyone — not just Jews.”

The tragedy is this:

• Israel acts from a place of historic trauma and fear.
• Palestinians experience this as a new form of dispossession and even genocide.
• The cycle deepens, and every side feels justified — while civilians, especially children, pay the price

1. In Israel

• Breaking the Silence: Former Israeli soldiers who speak openly about abuses in the occupied territories, calling for accountability.
• B’Tselem: Israel’s leading human rights organization, documenting violations against Palestinians.
• Parents Circle – Families Forum: A group of Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost loved ones in the conflict; they campaign together for reconciliation instead of vengeance.
• Jewish Voices for Peace (abroad, but with Israeli support): Jewish activists arguing that true safety for Jews requires justice for Palestinians.

2. In Palestine

• Palestinian civil society groups: Despite restrictions, many NGOs in Gaza and the West Bank push for human rights, education, and nonviolent resistance.
• Combatants for Peace: Former Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers who laid down their weapons and now work together to promote dialogue.
• Everyday resilience: Teachers, doctors, mothers, and students in Gaza and the West Bank who insist on living, learning, and raising families despite the odds — an act of defiance against despair.

3. Shared Initiatives

• Seeds of Peace: Brings Israeli and Palestinian teenagers together in neutral spaces to learn dialogue and coexistence.
• Joint memorial ceremonies: Every year, some Israelis and Palestinians gather together to mourn all the dead, refusing to rank one people’s suffering over the other’s.

4. Why This Matters

These efforts are small compared to the guns and bombs — but they keep alive a simple truth:

• Violence creates more violence.
• Trauma passed down becomes identity.
• The only way out is to recognize each other’s humanity.

As one bereaved Palestinian father said at a joint peace event with Israelis:

“We cannot change the past, but we can choose what we do with our pain.”

ISRAEL IN THE END TIMES

Today, we see Israel losing one piece of land after another. The State of Israel seeks its help from the UN, the USA, and the EU. They try through settlements with hostile neighbors to achieve peace, but the result is that they give away bit by bit of the “promised land” for a highly doubtful peace. Where will this end?

There is no doubt that Israel had a special mission in Old Testament times. Abraham is considered the father of the Jews. He believed in God, unlike the people in other lands, who worshiped various idols. Because Abraham believed in God among many pagan nations, God especially wanted to be with him and bless him.¹

But history shows that the Jewish people did not always put their trust in God. They turned away from God and worshiped foreign gods. They transgressed God’s laws and decrees, and did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. They had to face the consequences of their choices, just as we must. The promises they had been given were clear. If they listened to the voice of the Lord their God, and did what was right in His eyes, and paid attention to His commandments and all His decrees… then God would be with them and protect them.

If instead they chose to go their own way, they no longer had God’s protection. Thus, we see that God’s promises throughout the Bible are conditional.² And it often happened that Israel followed its own impulses, which went against God’s instructions. If they did not repent of their sins and turn back, history shows us that they soon were occupied by foreign rulers. They were scattered among other nations, mixed with other peoples, plundered, and persecuted. They had to bear the consequences of their own actions.

The Jews had a sacrificial service. If they had sinned, they themselves had to take a spotless lamb, confess their sin, and take the animal’s life. Of course, this ceremony in itself could not save those who performed it, but the sacrifice was to be done in faith, looking forward to the time when Jesus Christ would come and give His life once for all, so that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”³

AS A HUMAN

After the Fall, mankind was in fact lost, for God had said that “the wages of sin is death…”⁴ But divinity had a rescue plan. God so loved humanity that He decided to give His only begotten Son, so that He might save mankind. Jesus Christ was also willing to do this. Yes, He humbled Himself and came to this earth in the likeness of sinful flesh.⁵ It was only as a man that He could manage to save us, for man had fallen into sin, and the only way to rescue humanity was that the Creator/the Word/the Son of God became man, and lived a life without sin. That is what Jesus did. Scripture says:

“Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted and suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

And further: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”⁶

THEY REJECTED JESUS

But what happened when Jesus came to this earth? Did the Jewish people receive Him? The Bible says about His birth and life on earth: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”⁷

Through a parable, Jesus explained how the Jewish leaders decided to kill Him.⁸ In this parable we find the vineyard owner (God), the Son (Jesus), and the tenants (Israel’s leaders, who misled the people). When the Son (Jesus) came to gather the harvest, the tenants killed Him.

It was the Jewish people who demanded Jesus’ death, crying: “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”⁹ They rejected Jesus as their king, saying: “We have no king but Caesar.”⁹ They also said: “Let His blood be on us and our children.”⁹ Thus, the Jewish leaders made their choice, and dragged the people along. They chose Barabbas. He who was a robber and murderer represented Satan. Christ was God’s representative. The nation that chose Barabbas instead of Christ would forever feel the cruelty of Barabbas. Because of Israel’s choice, Jesus said:

“Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they knew He was speaking about them.¹⁰

The Jews had, through Jesus’ life, seen God’s love, goodness, righteousness, and mercy. Now they despised and rejected the Savior. The blood that flowed on Golgotha was the weight that sealed their downfall as God’s chosen nation. So it will be on the final day when those who reject God’s grace will face judgment.

The parable of the vineyard does not apply only to the Jews. It also speaks to today’s church leaders, priests, teachers of religion, and those who know Jesus Christ and the truths of the Bible. Jesus’ followers are to reflect Christ’s character in everyday life, with joy and with the help of the Holy Spirit. They are not only to be hearers of the Word, but doers. If they fail in their responsibility and calling, God will choose others to help fulfill His great plan with mankind.