From its foundation in the 1980s, Hamas, the Harakat al-Muqawamah al-hlamiyyah or Movement of Islamic Resistance, an Islamist movement descended from the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, has become increasingly central to the politics of the Israel-Palestine dispute. In January 2006 that centrality reached new levels when Hamas, by this time an organisation classified by western governments as terrorist, was elected to rule the Palestinian territories.rnTo observers Hamas has many apparent contradictions: it has used political violence against both Israel and its Palestinian political rival, Fatah, but it fought the 2006 election on a law, order and social welfare platform; it aims to create an Islamic state but holds elections and champions democracy; it supports the sharia yet its leaders are mainly secular professionals; it calls for the destruction of Israel, but has shown some willingness to honour previous peace agreements.
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