Overview

During Operation Summer Rains the IDF has carried out intensive activities against more than 40 institutions and offices belonging to Hamas's civilian infrastructure ( da'wah ) in Judea and Samaria . Those activities were conducted in various focal points, including Jenin, Nablus , Tulkarm, Ramallah, Bethlehem , Hebron , Jericho , and the towns and villages in the Jerusalem area. Materials have been confiscated from those offices and institutions that are outlawed by Israel , including Hamas documents, materials inciting hatred and violence, and documents dealing with the transfer of money from Hamas-affiliated funds and foundations abroad.

Sheikh Hamad al-Bitawi, chairman of the Islamic “charitable society” Al-Tadhamun in Nablus , who was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council on the Hamas slate in the January 2006 elections .

Hamas's broad civilian infrastructure, with its enormous variety of institutions in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, is not only a source of power for the movement but is what distinguishes Hamas from the other Palestinian terrorist organizations. Hamas used its civilian infrastructure to gain broad local support while building the political power base which led it to victory in the local municipalities and the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January. Hamas continues fostering that center of power to establish an extremist Islamic Palestinian Authority based on the principles set forth in the Hamas Charter in 1988.

Hamas's civilian infrastructure nourishes the movement's day-to-day activities in politics, social affairs and terrorist operations. It also provides support for terrorists and their families (including the families of suicide bombers) . Side by side with those activities, it plays a central role in the battle for hearts and minds by “educating,” preaching and indoctrinating terrorism to turn out cadres of future terrorists. ¹

This Bulletin will examine the goals and nature of the Hamas's civilian infrastructure ( da'wah ) and its role in the support of terrorism.

The activities of Hamas's civilian infrastructure

Within the PA territories, Hamas maintains a broad infrastructure of civilian institutions called the da'wah , ² at whose center are the so-called “charitable societies.” The civilian infrastructure is intended to achieve two fundamental goals :

• It provides support for the local population in education, welfare, health, religious services, etc., while exploiting the weakness and helplessness of both the PA and the PA institutions which are officially responsible for those services. That activity is intended to garner support from the population (with the emphasis on target Islamic populations from which Hamas supporters come), strengthen its steadfastness in the violent confrontation with Israel and establish Hamas's position as a power center within the PA.

• It supports the Hamas terrorist apparatus by :

  •  Providing aid to Hamas terrorist-operatives and their families (including shaheeds , among them suicide bombers, prisoners, the wanted and the wounded). That is done both by direct financial aid and by indirect health, welfare, religious, educational, etc., aid.

  •  “Education,” preaching, incitement to hatred and acts of terrorism against Israel and the dissemination of radical Islamic messages. They are all part of the war for hearts and minds, viewed by Hamas as one of the main components of its program . The war is waged through Hamas's independent educational system , which operates institutions from kindergarten through university; by acquiring influence over the mosques in the PA territories; and by using the media as important tools for indoctrination. All of the above are aimed at creating the movement's future cadres of operatives, individuals who will have absorbed the values of discipline in studies and strict adherence to religion along with the willingness to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Allah through violent activity against Israel , including suicide bombing attacks.

  •  Support for Hamas's daily activities in the PA territories : Financing Hamas's political activities, including the current struggle between Hamas and Abu Mazen (and the pragmatic elements in the PA); operating a network of Hamas-owned media both inside the PA and abroad; providing an address to which funds from abroad can be sent (from both the Arab and western countries); providing financial services to Hamas institutions and on occasion, in our assessment, leaking funds to finance its operational terrorist apparatus.

  •  Support for Hamas operatives in the PA territories (including those linked to its terrorist-operative activities) by creating jobs for them (and sometimes for their families as well) through the “charitable societies” and the many other institutions affiliated with the Hamas civilian infrastructure. Thus Hamas operatives have legitimate camouflage for their activities when dealing with the PA, to which, by law, many of the Hamas institutions are subordinate. It should be noted that many members of the civilian infrastructure were elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council and government.

The PA, now under Abu Mazen as previously under Arafat, is well aware of the extent and depth of the infrastructure constructed by Hamas, and is wary of it. The da'wah includes an association of “charitable societies,” an educational infrastructure (kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools, universities), health-care institutions (clinics and hospitals), mosques, women's and workers' organizations, sports groups and financial institutions. All of the above strengthen Hamas's influence over the population at the expense of the pragmatic elements which support Abu Mazen, and prepare the ground for the establishment of a radical Islamic Hamas entity within the PA .

Financing Hamas's civilian infrastructure

Financing Hamas's civilian infrastructure necessitates enormous financial resources, which Hamas receives from Islamic funds and foundations abroad. Among them are Hamas-affiliated designated funds operating in the West (particularly western Europe), Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States .

Those funds and foundations allegedly transfer donations for social, educational, religious and humanitarian activities, whereas in fact they strengthen the spread of Hamas's civilian infrastructure. In that way they contribute to reinforcing the extremist Islamic movement which plays a central role in terrorism directed against Israel and at the same time weaken Abu Mazen and his supporters.

1. “ Unprecedented Hamas Fundraising Drive Held in Gaza to Support Terrorist Activity against Israel . A Hamas fundraising drive was held in Gaza to ease financial difficulties caused by European, Israeli and Palestinian Authority pressures, and to protest steps taken by the PA against Hamas-affiliated “charitable organizations.” Prominent were declarations that donations would be put to military (and not humanitarian) use and would support the “resistance” and jihad (holy war) for the land of Palestine,” at http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/5_04/hamas.htm.

2. “Palestinian terrorist organizations use the Arab Bank to channel money into terrorism,” http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/JULY_12_04.PDF.

3. “Palestinian terrorist organizations and ‘charitable societies' identified with them make extensive use of the Arab Bank for transferring funds (Volume 2),” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/NOV7_04.PDF.

4. “Hamas' broad civilian infrastructure ( da'wah ) provides a potential alternative to the Palestinian Authority and its institutions and supports terrorism: analysis of the Ramallah-Al-Bireh region as a case study based on documents taken from the Palestinian security apparatus and da'wah institutions.” At http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/eng_n/pdf/hamas0904.pdf.

5. “IRFAN: A Hamas front organization operating in Canada to enlist financial support for Hamas institutions in the Palestinian Authority-administered territories,” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/NOV13_04.PDF.

6. “Interpal” http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/DEC12A_04.PDF) .

7. “The Union of Good: an umbrella organization comprised of more than 50 Islamic charitable funds and foundations worldwide. It in fact channels “charity” money and provides other items for Hamas-affiliated institutions in the Palestinian Authority-administered territories, contributing to sustaining the support system infrastructure of Palestinian terrorism through the so-called financial jihad,” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/FEB22_05.PDF.

8. “Charity and Palestinian terrorism – spotlight on the Hamas-run Islamic al-Tadhamun “charitable society” in Nablus : a case study of the workings of the Palestinian terrorism support-system infrastructure and the organizations abroad which finance it,” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/MAR29_05.PDF.

9. “Spotlight on a Hamas da'wah institution in the West Bank : A file of Palestinian Preventive Security documents identified the Bethlehem Orphan Care Society as Hamas-affiliated. The file also contained reports of funds for the Society and Hamas coming from various external sources, including Interpal in Britain and the Islamic Movement in Israel ” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/JAN22_05.PDF.

10. “Comité de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP): a French Hamas-affiliated fund which provides financial support for Hamas institutions in the PA-administered territories.” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia//ENGLISH/MARKETING%20TERRORISM/PDF/APR15_05.PDF.

² Da'wah , literally “preaching, calling, propaganda; in reality a religious-cultural indoctrination [system] which [employs various Islamic and preachers and] uses all the [available] communications media to change their culture [i.e., world view] and to turn them into [loyal Muslim believers in their own usually radical interpretation of Islam];” from Uriah Furman, Islamiyyun , [Hebrew], Ma'arachot Publishing, Tel Aviv, 2002, p. 322.