The United States calls Hamas a terrorist organization. Yet Hamas swept to victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections. Why did Hamas win? This one-stop guide to Hamas tells you everything you need to know. The author, a leading Al-Jazeera journalist and Cambridge-based scholar, analyses Hamas’s history and its agenda. This book covers all the key issues, including Hamas’s attitudes to Israel and the PLO, religious beliefs, suicide bombings and its programme of grassroots social work within Palestine. The reality of Hamas’s victory means that the West will now have to engage with it more seriously if there is to be peace in the Middle East.