Status Updates From Hamas: A History from Within

The US rushed to Abbas’s aid, promising to immediately lift the sanctions imposed eighteen months earlier if he went ahead and formed a Hamas-free government.

It was US & Israel who called for democracy, which Hamas won!

Gaza Strip had by then been facing the prospect of becoming literally the world’s largest prison
camp by a world community that had denied them democracy and is now denying them life.

-2007

I do not endorse the martyrdom chapter. It wasn't right to discredit scholars who deem such operations as impermissible by only citing those who have ties with the government. I would advise one to read up on the matter from classical and modern scholars of Islam to get a more accurate understanding, given that Tamimi is not a religious scholar.

Islamic faith accomplishes two objectives:
-it liberates man from servitude and renders him impossible to enslave
-it prohibits him from enslaving others

There is nothing in Islamic sources that describes war as holy.

Term “holy war” is a European Christian invention dating back to 1096 CE, when Rome began to preach a “Holy Crusade” “to free Holy City of Jerusalem from clutches of heretics & infidels

Mishal: we dont want to leave for Qatar.
Jordanian minister: But you called Qatari minister.

M: only to ask him to mediate for our return to Jordan. Not to go to Qatar.
JM: Here are your passports; leave.

M: Then we are being deported?
He turned to Qatari minister: Bear witness that we are being deported. There will be a trial one day, you’ll be called to testify.

Qatari minister:
I shall definitely testify.

Tamimi outlines how there was a need 2 change the PUBLIC lang of the Charter to appeal to non-Muslims+lib Muslims+adhere to "universally accepted human rights". It'd use less religious terms & more poli + historical terms. Given that this was written in 06/07, I'm interested to know Tamimi's views post Gaza genocide. The updated Charter is still understandable but what about this need to appeal to wider people?

Chapter 6 was almost comical, for lack of a more suitable word, in how Jordan was behaving towards Hamas members.

One day I hope to read this in public with as much ease as one who reads Obama's autobiography in public. How can the former book be treated with suspicion while the latter's war criminal record of a book isn't.

Unlike the activists of the nationalist movement, these Islamic recruits brought with them little apart from zeal, determination, and longing for martyrdom; they had neither training nor experience. Much of what they attempted at this stage either failed completely or had a very limited effect, but they were apparently able to learn quickly.

In the English-speaking world, story this book seeks to tell has been little heard. It is the sincere hope of the author that the book will provide the public with a more accurate description of what
Hamas is and what it stands for.

All great stuff right now - however, I feel like me reading this sporadically (in contrast to how I inhaled it initially) will negatively affect my experience of the book and understanding it wholly.