FULL ROLE NAME AND FULL ROLE TITLE: Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Leader of Hamas

FULL TITLE OF COUNTRY OR OTHER POLITICAL ENTITY: Palestinian 
Opposition

DATE OF BIRTH: 1938

SHORT AND MEANINGFUL QUOTATION: "We must remember that the enemy's 
strength is naught compared with Allah's grace."

NARRATIVE SECTION: My name is Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Not only am I an 
expert on Muslim law, but I am also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. 
In 1973, I built the Islamic Congress from a charitable organization into 
"an empire that ruled most of the religious life on the (Gaza) Strip." 
This organization later became a political vehicle for the Muslim 
Brotherhood. In 1984, I was sentenced to a term of 13 years in prison by 
Israeli officials on charges of holding weaponry. Next, I was released 
in 1985 as part of a Jebril prisoner exchange; however, I was not allowed 
to return to my position of chairman of the Islamic Congress. Soon after 
my prison release, I was sent back to prison in order to serve a life 
sentence. This time I was charged with having caused the deaths of two 
Israeli soldiers and four Gazans whom I found to be disloyal. I am not 
saying whether or not I killed these victims or had them killed; however, 
these victims were clearly informants for the "Israeli government". More 
recently (in 1988), I founded a new fundamentalist underground called 
Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya). Moreover, I am the leader of 
this movement to this day.

BRIEF PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Paralyzed,thin, round-faced, dark brown eyes

BACKGROUND BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Place of Birth: town of Al-Johra (in 
the area of current day Gaza); Mother's name: Sadah abdallah al-Habeel; 
Father died when he was three. Former Chairman of the Islamic Congress, 
Leader of informal cultural and educational movement called the Muslim 
Brotherhood, Founder of Hamas (an acronym for "Islamic Resistance 
Movement"); Career Path- Muslim Cleric, spiritual leader

DISCUSSION OF POLITICAL VIEWS: Before the riots of 1987 in Gaza, Yassin 
concentrated on promoting Moslem ideals. He worked on strengthening his 
policies of tarbiyeh (education) and da'awah (preaching). Instead of 
involving his efforts against Israel in a militant fashion, he was more 
focused towards promoting constructive pursuits like fostering a return 
to religion. In the next couple of years after these riots, Yassin began 
emphasizing more narrow concerns such as Palestinian nationalism, rather 
than his broader desires of the "Islamic nation". A year after the 
Intifada began (about 1987), the Islamic Brotherhood in Gaza developed a 
more militant stance. Yassin was given the code name "100". Also, an 
exclusive security and intelligence arm was created on his behalf. It was 
known as "Majed", and its members collected evidence against Arabs 
collaborating with Shin Bet. Gradually, this branch engaged in numerous 
violent acts in order to promote its aims. 

POLITICAL ALLIES AND OPPONENTS: Ally (to some extent)- Islamic Jihad; 
Opponents: 1) Israel- Evil; 2) The Palestinian Liberation Organization 
(PLO)- not necessarily evil, just misguided; 3) Leftists, in general

GREATEST CONTRIBUTIONS: Undoubtedly, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's greatest 
accomplishment (from his viewpoint) was his takeover of al-Azhar, the 
Islamic University in Gaza. He ridded the school of PLO partisans and 
turned the faculty and student body of 700 men into a reserve of 
disciplined "soldiers". The contest for al-Azhar was practically a 
mini-civil war between the Islamic Congress and its adversaries on the 
left (particularly the Popular Front and Communists). Another of Yassin's 
great accomplishments is his founding of Hamas, a broad-based resistance 
movement with its immediate goal of instructing its members in the rules 
of discipline and secrecy. 

ROLE PLAYING NOTES: Rivalry with the PLO, distaste for Arafat, "Pork 
eaters and wine drinkers" (PLO), dismissed PLO leadership, special contempt 
for leftists; Shiekh Yassin offers young Palestinianians much more than 
Arafat's kin: not just the redemption of the homeland but the salvation 
of his own troubled soul; expressions of Jew-hatred are a common feature 
of fundamentalist publications; Hamas portrays Israel as a "Satanic 
force"; pledged to negotiate with Israel if the Jewish state recognizes 
Palestinian rights; Palestinian authorities are contantly demanding his 
release; in return for softening its stand, Hamas would demand the 
release of Yassin.

QUOTATIONS: "On the day the PLO adopts Islam as its path, the Islamic 
Resistance Movement will become it's army." -contained in Hamas's 
manifesto "Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement-Palestine"; "(a 
Palestinian state) must be established on every inch of Palestine that we 
liberate, but without relinquishing our other rights." -Yassin, April of 
1989; "Islam makes it obligatory to maintain relations of understanding 
and cooperation with the Islamists inside and outside Palestine." 
-Yassin; "By recognising U.N. Security  Council resolution 242, we gave 
the Israeli's something and got nothing." -Yassin, November 17, 1988; 
"give peace a chance" -said while in Israeli prison, 1995

SOURCES: Intifada, Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari, Simon and Schuster, NY, 
1989; The Intifada, Robert Freedman, Florida International University 
Press, Miami, 1991; Intifada, Don Peretz, Westview Press, Boulder, 1990; 
"Hamas: The History of the Islamic Opposition Movement in Palestine" by 
Ahmad J. Rashad, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 
1993; "Deutsche Presse-Agentur",  BC Cycle, January 10, 1996; The 
Jerusalem Post, November 29, 1995; Ahmad Yassin, by Ahmad Yousef; 
Economist, p.40