->Onceinawhile at 01:22, 4 January 2022

2022-01-04T01:22:28Z

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{{Short description|Term referring to Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip}}{{Politics of the Gaza Strip}}
'''Hamastan''' ({{lang-he|חמאסטן}}) is a [[Term of disparagement|pejorative]] [[neologism]], merging '[[Hamas]]', a [[Palestinian militant]] organization and political party, and '[[-stan]]', a suffix of Persian origin meaning "home of/place of".<ref>{{cite news|last=Safire |first=William |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/magazine/31wwln_safire.t.html?ex=1325221200&en=5aefeff682e72d33&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |title=Year of the Stans |work=Nytimes.com |date=2006-12-31 |accessdate=2011-07-12}}</ref><ref name="Zahar">{{cite web |url=http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/html/final/eng/eng_n/hamastan_e.htm |title="Hamastan" - A Palestinian radical Islamist state, ruled by Hamas |publisher=Terrorism-info.org.il |date=2005-08-30 |accessdate=2011-07-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928101503/http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/html/final/eng/eng_n/hamastan_e.htm |archivedate=2011-09-28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Fishman |first=Alex |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4673208,00.html |title=How IDF Intelligence failed to predict 'Hamastan' in Gaza following Israeli pullot |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=2015-06-27 |accessdate=2015-07-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Okbi |first=Yasser |url=http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinian-official-warns-of-ISIS-takeover-if-peace-process-not-advanced-413148 |title=Palestinian official warns of ISIS takeover if peace process not advanced |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=2015-08-24 |accessdate=2016-02-15}}</ref> The term ''Hamastan'' generally relates to the [[Governance of the Gaza Strip|Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip]].

The term emerged during the days of [[Israel]]'s withdrawal from the [[Gaza Strip]] in 2005, and is suggestive of either [[Bantustans]] (the [[Bantustans|nominally self-governing black homelands]] created in [[apartheid]]-era [[South Africa]]; see [[Palestinian enclaves]]),<ref>{{Cite news| title = Sharon's Dream | last = Eldar | first = Akiva | author-link = Akiva Eldar | newspaper = [[Haaretz]] | url = https://www.haaretz.com/1.4944377 | date = 18 June 2007 | quote=If Ariel Sharon were able to hear the news from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, he would call his loyal aide, [[Dov Weissglas]], and say with a big laugh: 'We did it, Dubi.' Sharon is in a coma, but his plan is alive and kicking. Everyone is now talking about the state of Hamastan. In his house, they called it a bantustan, after the South African protectorates designed to perpetuate apartheid.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Looney | first=R. | title=Handbook of US-Middle East Relations | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-135-16591-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFqhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT497 | access-date=2022-01-04 | page=497 | quote= In a way, these policies have not led to the creation of a Palestinian Bantustan but of Palestinian Hamastan}}</ref> or Hamas' [[Islamist]] ideology (rhetorically likened to the [[Taliban]]'s rule of [[Afghanistan]]) or, alternatively, political ties with [[Iran]].

==Linguistic history==
Since 2007, the term has been used to refer to [[Hamas]]' [[Battle of Gaza (2007)|2007 victory in Gaza]] over [[Fatah]] in the [[Fatah-Hamas conflict|inter-Palestinian conflict]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Claire |first=Sheera |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605920728&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |title=Netanyahu warns of birth of Hamastan |publisher=Fr.jpost.com |date=2006-01-26 |accessdate=2011-07-12 }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

After Hamas' victory in the [[2006 Palestinian legislative election|Palestinian legislative election of 2006]] further heightened [[Western world|Western]] fears of an emerging [[Islamic fundamentalism|Islamic fundamentalist]] state in the Palestinian territories, and various [[Israel]]i politicians, including [[Likud]] chairman [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] (on January 26, 2006, at a live [[Israeli Broadcasting Authority|IBA]] broadcast) increasingly employed the term disparagingly in the run up to the Israeli elections to berate [[Ehud Olmert]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zoa.org/sitedocuments/pressrelease_view.asp?pressreleaseID=778 |title=Zionist Organization of America - Press Releases - Israeli Elections: Divided Message On Withdrawal - Economic Issues Highlight |publisher=Zoa.org |date=2006-03-29 |accessdate=2011-07-12}}</ref>

With the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, the creation of an Islamic mini-state in Gaza has been described by many commentators as "Hamastan" or "Hamas-stan".<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=D452P41J5WIB5QFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/opinion/2007/06/15/do1502.xml&posted=true&_requestid=265922 Fundamentalists threaten Israel from all sides]{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [[The Daily Telegraph]], 15 June 2007</ref>

Originally, the suffix 'Stan' (land) is from the [[Persian language]], not [[Arabic language|Arabic]], and in general, it is not used in the names of Arab countries. The Arabic-alphabet spelling حماستان is used, though "Hamastan" was not created according to usual patterns of Arabic-language word formation, and is not really Arabic as such.

In this context the Fatah-controlled [[West Bank]] has sometimes analogously been called "[[Fatahland]],"<ref>{{cite web|last=Eldar |first=Akiva |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/border-control-from-bad-to-worse-1.237809 |title=Border Control / From bad to worse |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=2011-07-08 |accessdate=2011-07-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Jonathan Freedland |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jun/20/israel.comment |title=Jonathan Freedland: The scene of Fatahland flowering as Hamastan wilts is sheer fantasy |work=The Guardian |date= 2007-06-19|accessdate=2011-07-12 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Honig |first=Sarah |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1243346496129&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |title=Another Tack |publisher=Fr.jpost.com |date= |accessdate=2011-07-12 }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Muriel Asseburg |url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/13930/swp.html?breadcrumb=%2Fpublication%2Fpublication_list%3Ftype%3Dmust_read%26page%3D42 |title=SWP: Hamastan vs. Fatahland: A Chance for Progress in the Middle East? |publisher=Cfr.org |date= |accessdate=2011-07-12 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> a revival of a term originally used in the 1970s to refer to Southern Lebanon.

==See also==
* [[Fatahland]]
* [[Gaza Strip]]
* [[Media coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict]]
* [[Islamism in the Gaza Strip]]
* [[Hamas Covenant]] – the founding principles of Hamas

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

==External links==
*{{cite web |last=Keinon |first=Herb |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605925861&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |title=Peres hints Israel may talk with Hamas |publisher=Fr.jpost.com |date=Jan 27, 2006 |accessdate=2011-07-12 }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3207079,00.html |title=Bibi: Hamastan established before our eyes |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=1995-06-20 |accessdate=2011-07-12}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=254&PID=0&IID=1519 |title=Israeli Security - Iran - Iran Is Building "Hamastan" in Gaza |publisher=Jcpa.org |date=11 March 2007 |accessdate=2011-07-12}}
*{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060300953.html |title=Dennis Ross - The Specter of 'Hamastan' |work=Washingtonpost.com |date=2007-06-04 |accessdate=2011-07-12}}

[[Category:Hamas]]
[[Category:Gaza–Israel conflict]]
[[Category:Political slurs]]
[[Category:2000s neologisms]]

[[de:Gazastreifen#2006–2007]]

Hamastan - Revision history

->Onceinawhile at 01:22, 4 January 2022