In their oath of loyalty, members of Hamas declare that death in the cause of God is their supreme desire. But as the bombs of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, aimed at smashing Hamas, kill and maim growing numbers of Palestinians, many of them civilians unaffiliated to the Islamist group, its glorification of martyrdom is ringing sadly hollow.rnAll faith-inspired groups struggle tornsquare the purity of dogmatism with dirtier realities. In the two decades since its founding as a local branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas has mostly shied away from choosing between the two. For years it could pose comfortably in opposition to Fatah, the secular party that long dominated Palestinian politics, and accuse it of abandoning national ideals in the false hope of securing peace with Israel.
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