The Islamic Resistance Movement - Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya - is aptly named. For 15 years the group, whose acronym, Hamas, spells out the Arabic word for "zeal, has been a wellspring of Islamic radicalism, defining itself by its opposition both to Israeli occupation and to what it portrays as the flawed theory and corrupt practice of Yassir Arafat's secular nationalism.

Born during the first Palestinian intifada in February 1988, its roots lie in the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of political Islam founded in Egypt 60 years earlier by Hassan al-Banna.

Its early leaders, including the late Sheikh Yassin, assassinated by Israel in 2004, believed that their pro-Islamic agenda could be achieved only by setting up a network of mosques and charities through which their message could be delivered, building up strength and support until they were ready to take on Israel.

When the first intifada broke out, they saw their chance to broaden their appeal and took up the gun, drawing many recruits from among the young and headstrong.

During the present intifada, its brand of uncompromising violence and willingness to carry out bomb and shooting attacks inside Israel, not just in the occupied territories, brought it more recruits. That provoked Mr Arafat's Fatah to follow suit, fearful that it would lose support among an increasingly radicalised younger generation.

Although it has established itself as an important political force -especially in Gaza - its precise electoral strength was unknown because it refused to take part in Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections in the 1990s, rejecting the Oslo peace accords under which they were set up. It remains opposed to the existence of Israel, and, unlike Fatah, seeks to establish Palestinian control not just over the West Bank and Gaza, but over all of Israel.

Hamas, designated a terrorist group by Israel and the United States, is blamed for some of the worst suicide bombs and shootings over the past decade, including 22 Israelis killed in a Tel Aviv disco and 15 in a Jerusalem pizzeria.

Palestinians who grumbled at the Palestinian Authority's failure to deliver jobs, services and reforms - even before Israel tanks moved into the West Bank - often turn to Hamas's charitable institutions for food and welfare.

In private, Hamas leaders are more pragmatic about their relations with Israel and the prospect of unceasing struggle than their implacable public positions would suggest. They have offered a temporary 'truce' possibly lasting many years if Israel permits a proper Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

It turned to politics last year but makes it clear that it will not give up the gun. Playing to Hamas core hardline support its leading candidate Ismail Haniya, with Dr Mahmoud al-Zahar, one of the few senior leadership figures not to have been assassinated by Israel, hailed Israel's "retreat" from Gaza last year as a victory for Palestinian arms.

"It is premature to say that Hamas is transforming itself into a political party like those in countries that are stable and independent. We still have the questions of the Israel occupation, refugees, Jerusalem and our prisoners. It's premature for Hamas to drop its weapons and give up resistance," he said yesterday while voting at Gaza's Beach camp.

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