Inside Hamas: my journey to its secret heart

9 February 2008

The film-maker Mike Chamberlain has gained unprecedented access to the Islamist organisation. He recounts the cloak-and-dagger methods that led him to its leaders and its foot soldiers

It was three days after the war had finished, but the restaurant was packed full of young couples, gossiping girls and families. We were led to a door guarded by two men. Behind that door was Osama Hamdan, the man I had to see before being granted the kind of access I’d need to do an in-depth documentary on Hamas. Fortunately, he had a sense of humour, which was rather relaxing. He apologised for the location for the meeting, explaining that during the four-week-long war his home and office had both been bombed to bits by the Israelis, so all his meetings were now held in a selection of cafés and restaurants across the city. Smart and polite in a grey suit and no tie, and university-educated as all the leadership seem to be, he chatted amiably but briefly. Next morning I had coffee with Alastair. ‘You know it’s a “Yes” don’t you?’ he said. We were going to be allowed to get as ‘inside’ as we had hoped, but not immediately and not before events had taken another interesting turn on the ground.

In June last year, civil war broke out. Gaza is Hamas’s stronghold and, since the election victory, it had been hit much harder than the West Bank, as Israel and Egypt virtually cut it off and the international embargo withheld aid except essential food. Security forces controlled by Fatah had also been strengthened. In response Hamas unleashed its much smaller force against Fatah’s fighters. Eight days later, Fatah was routed and Hamas controlled Gaza.

At this typically unpredictable moment, my brave director Rodrigo Vasquez set off to film there. The democratically elected Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, was now in charge of a rump state — one that his party had been compelled to take by force. Rodrigo got the kind of access that would be anathema to most governments, let alone a militant/‘terrorist’ organisation under siege conditions. There were no spin doctors in sight, as Rodrigo filmed internal meetings of the police and private parliamentary discussions. He accompanied the senior military commander as his men placed booby-trapped roadside bombs. We got to see the Prime Minister in his other role as Sheikh as he dispensed advice and favours to his flock in the manner of a friendly godfather.

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sebastian

February 7th, 2008 11:02am Report this comment

Mike Chamberlain has, with all due respect, been but the solitary passenger on a Hamas fairground Ghost Train of stage managed spine-tinglers and dangled, sheeted contents of false, hidden tombs. Probably only the well informed Israelis really know what lies at Hamas' secret heart. And they're no more likely to share this with a man with a notepad and camera, than Hamas is. How does it feel to know you've been taken for a ride, Mr. Chamberlain?

jack jones

February 8th, 2008 5:36pm Report this comment

"Later on, he offered Israel a traditional Islamic truce — 10, 20, 30 years without fighting, if Israel would retreat back to the 1967 borders." This is known as a "Hudna" and is a temporary cease fire in order for the armies of islam to regroup until there powerful enough to start another offensive. Mr.Chamberlain is either ignorant of islam or like most is choosing to ignore it's basic tenets of perpetual war with the "infidel" because it kills the myth and legend of the "diversity fairy" that most journalists/politicians seem to believe in these days. I hate to burst your bubble but these guys want you dead too...just when they choose. At the moment your useful.You could become even more useful and end up spending several years wrapped in gaffa tape in a cold cell. Two words to look up and study from an islamic context Mr Chamberlain. Taqqiya and Hudna. The former is most important for you because if you grasp it you might realise how you've been played by Hamas and the practitioners of the religion that dare not speak it's name.

jack jones

February 8th, 2008 5:38pm Report this comment

Maurice Ferera

February 9th, 2008 6:58am Report this comment

Mr Chamberlain chooses to ignore every anti-Israel statement made by HAMAS leadership, the way in which HAMAS disposed of FATAH prisoners in their recent civil war, their tacit if not overt support of kassam rocket attacks against Israel, their recent handling of protests by unarmed civilian demonstrations etc. etc. Reading this, I got no deeper understanding of Hamas - but got plenty of understanding of Mr Chamberlain's abilities as a journalist. Is this article really supposed to pass for serious journalism?

Napoleon

February 9th, 2008 12:12pm Report this comment

I was not going to post, but as I have seen that no one(that posted) agrees with Mike, I decided to post just to say that I loved the article, and totally agree with Mike.

Arieh Gertler

February 9th, 2008 1:20pm Report this comment

Your reporter Mike Chamberlain has unwillingly became a tool in the hands of Hamas terror organization and shows them in a moderate light. Not talking of what Hamas is ready to do to Israelis, not talking of the home made rockets that he sends with a clear intention to kill Israeli citizens, should your reporter see what Hamas did in Gaza to his fellow brothers from Fatah, starting from shooting in knees to throwing them from 17-floor houses to their death. Those moderate Western journalists who try to "understand" the terrorist motives should learn from Winston Churchill - the evil has to be eliminated and not understood. There is only one way to treat those Hamas terrorists - to KILL them.

TDK

February 9th, 2008 10:58pm Report this comment

but Israel did withdraw to the 1967 border in the Gaza strip. And Hamas responded by immediately launching (or in this naive version, tolerating the launching of) rockets into Israel. I would have though that if Hamas was an honest partner in peace it might have tried to encourage Israel, that it could be trusted to keep the peace, as a prelude to Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Shimon Felix

February 11th, 2008 8:20am Report this comment

Well, I guess if you want the access you have to play the game - Hamas's racist, anti-Semitic charter is dismissed as an irrelevant relic,the "traditional Islamic truce" of 20, 30 years, is not just a way for Hamas to arm itself to act on the genocidal aims of its charter, it's "traditonal", Hamas allows deadly rocket fire at Israeli civillians in order to retain credibility as a "resistance group" - resistance to what? Israel's non-existent "occupation" of Gaza, etc., etc. But hey, he got a movie out of all this nonsense. And it will be a good one, too, after all these Hamas guys wear sharp suits and look like George Clooney.

Mikets

February 11th, 2008 7:38pm Report this comment

Hamas has, as they say, a respect for democracy - 'one man one vote one time'

Elliot

February 13th, 2008 1:19am Report this comment

What is this apology for Hamas? They are as democratic as Taliban or al-Qa'eda. I gather Mike Chamberlain doesn't wish to be assasinated after his interview, but he really ought to have published it in the Guardian or some other liberal PR mouthpiece.

Patricia Williams

January 23rd, 2009 11:42am Report this comment

Am I too late to post? It's late Jan 2009 now and Mike Chamberlain and Rodrigo Vazquez's film was shown on 20th Jan on Arte TV in France. I'm with you, Napoleon, on this one. Have any of the rest of you SEEN the film? Please do, a variety of people are interviewed, many different views are expressed. This appears to me to be a well-thought out and serious attempt to show us westerners both sides of the coin. The producer and director of this film are nobody's poodles. Watch the film, listen to what is said, from ALL the speakers, before you criticise. Bravo Messrs Chamberlin and Vazquez. I look forward to more from you.

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