Between December 1987 and December 1988, Hamas issued around 33 leaflets. [43] (The number is not certain because they were not numbered until May 1988 when number 21 appeared.) The leaflets drew heavily on religious slogans and images unlike those distributed by the Unified Leadership of the Uprising (Fateh\Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and Palestine Communist Party (PCP) coalition) whose were longer, more detailed and succinctly presented political arguments. All the leaflets set out to dictate a routine for daily life but the Hamas leaflets addressed a broader range of issues covering work, health, transportation, education and religious instruction as well as declaring its own strike days.

Although the leaflets illustrate that both groups have the same overriding goal which is to establish a Palestinian state and remove Israel from the occupied lands, Hamas goes much further, aiming to establish an Islamic state in all of Palestine. Leaflet number 22 of June 1988 declares that "Our war is a holy war for Allah unto victory or death."  As far as Hamas is concerned, the Muslims right to all of Palestine leaves no room for a political settlement with Israel: a Hamas leaflet of March 1988 states, "Let every hand be cut off that signs a relinquishment of a grain of the soil of Palestine to the enemies of Allah who have usurped the blessed soil." [44]

In August 1988 Hamas released its own covenant, (see Appendix I) a thirty-six article document clearly stating its objectives and covering an extraordinary range of issues. Contained in the introductory page, along with quotes from the Koran and martyrs to the cause, is the line, "Israel will be established and will stay established until Islam nullifies it as it nullified what was before it." The covenant goes on to introduce the Hamas movement and its birth saying that it "went forth to perform its role for the sake of its Lord."

The first chapter defines the movement, explaining its relationship to the Muslim Brotherhood and saying that it "works towards raising the banner of Allah on every inch of Palestine," and that it is "a link in {a long} chain of Jihad against the Zionist occupation." It defines itself thus:

The Islamic resistance movement...professes a comprehensive understanding and precise conceptualization of the Islamic precepts in all aspects of life: concept and beliefs, politics and economics, education and social service, jurisdiction and law, exhortation and training, communication and arts, the seen and the unseen and the rest of life's ways. (The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Article Two)

Chapter two rhetorically defines the general objectives of the movement with an evocative introduction which says that the movement:

...evolved in a time where the lack of the Islamic Spirit has brought about distorted judgement and absurd comprehension. Values have deteriorated, the plague of the evil folk and oppression and darkness have become rampant, cowards have become ferocious. Nations have been occupied, their people expelled and fallen on their faces {in humiliation} everywhere on earth. The nation of truth is absent and the nation of evil has been established; as long as Islam does not take its rightful place in the world arena everything will continue to change for the worse. The goal of the Islamic Resistance movement therefore is to conquer evil, break its will and annihilate it so that truth may prevail, so that the country may return to its rightful place, and so that the call may be broadcast over the minarets proclaiming the Islamic state. (The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Article Nine.)

There is a strong social message in these ideas which appeal to a broader base than religion alone - rejecting the division of Palestine and claiming that the struggle must be for the whole land, gives hope to those refugees outside the land, hope that they will be able to realize their right of return to their own homes, fields and villages. No other Palestinian political movement can embrace such a promise. [45]

Owing to the belief of Hamas that all the land of Palestine is Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations makes Jihad or holy war inevitable. Hamas believes itself to be the most recent link in the "chain of Jihad" which began with the revolt of Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam and his Muslim Brotherhood comrades in the 1930s.

Article thirteen of the covenant says:

There is no solution to the Palestinian question except by Jihad. The initiatives, options and international conferences are a waste of time and a kind of childs play. The Palestinian people are nobler than to be fiddling with their future, rights and destiny.

Article fifteen reiterates this more strongly by stating that:

When an enemy occupies some of the Muslim lands, Jihad becomes obligatory for every Muslim. In the struggle against the Jewish occupation of Palestine, the banner of Jihad must be raised.

This principle tenet of the Hamas program addressed every able member of society as illustrated in article twelve:

Fighting the enemy becomes the individual obligation of every Muslim man and woman. The woman is allowed to go fight without the permission of her husband and the slave without the permission of his master.

and in article fourteen:

The liberation of Palestine is obligatory for every Muslim no matter where he is;

Despite its apparently Islamic call for Holy War against the Zionist entity and the establishment of what it envisions as an Islamic state, Hamas has, especially recently, appealed to an audience that does not necessarily share its political aims. Part of its grass-roots appeal comes from disillusion with the secular ranks of the PLO who are seen by many as being too weak in their resistance to the occupiers. Hamas, meanwhile, has claimed responsibility for what are seen by many as successful military exploits including killings of Israeli secret agents. On the other hand, Hamas has been careful to present a `moderate' face to those unhappy with lack of progress under PLO leadership yet reluctant to embrace an `extremist' stance.

As Hamas has developed from being simply an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood to a major political organization, so it has shifted its actions to be increasingly seen as a primary source of resistance to the occupation and therefore a legitimate challenger to the hegemony of the PLO. Its decisions on how best to maintain this challenge during the current peace process and vis-a-vis the possibility of elections as part of that process are purely pragmatic.

While Hamas appeals to democratic principles in its efforts to challenge the PLO (claiming that the PLO leadership is not a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people because it has not been elected, and calling for elections inside and outside the Occupied Territories to determine the leadership), the fact remains that it seeks not democracy in Palestine but the establishment of sharia (Islamic law) as the only law, the interpretation of which will be determined not by an elected government but by the Supreme 'Ulama:

The Islamic Resistance Movement: Islam is its system. From Islam it reaches for its ideology, fundamental precepts and world view of life, the universe and humanity; and it judges all its actions according to Islam and is inspired by Islam to correct its errors. (The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Article One). 

The claim of each fundamentalist movement, of whatever religion, is that it provides all the answers to all facets of life. Therefore, of course, everything else is wrong and, because the apparently correct path is founded on religious belief, somehow sinful, blasphemous and corrupt. Hamas seeks not democracy but theocracy. It demands not freedom but obedience, not equality but compliance, of women to men and of the poor to the (charitable) rich. Hamas stresses that "it is possible for all followers of different religions to live in peace and with security" However, it claims that this can only happen "in the shadow of Islam" in the absence of which, "discord takes form, oppression and destruction are rampant and wars and battles take place." (The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Article Six).

Fundamentalism is regressive; it harks back to some mythical Golden Age when (religious) law was properly observed and, therefore, society was better in every way. Hamas is no exception and proudly proclaims that, "The historical dimension of the Islamic Resistance Movement originates from its adoption of Islam as a system of life. It reaches far back to the birth of the Islamic Message" (The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Article Five).

The belief in a prescribed magic formula (religious or otherwise but especially in the case of fundamentalist religion) suitable for all is not only undemocratic but inherently conservative and in the interests of the patronizing classes. It is indeed ironic that Hamas, which relies so much on the support of those Palestinians who feel betrayed by the current patronizing leadership, seeks to impose another.