This book offers a new understanding of the nature of power-seeking insurgent groups by empirically examining the use of violence by Hamas in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Though Hamas has learned to ride the tides of popular support, it remains suspended between its quest to achieve the values of its ardent supporters (reclamation of land through force) and the desire to grow popular support. This tension is reflected in how and when the group exercises violent resistance. The theoretical framework applied in this volume provides a simple construct to understand the dynamics that result in use and non-use of violence under changing environmental conditions by Hamas, but could be applied more broadly to other power-seeking insurgent groups, including ISIL. The book weaves together the dynamics between violent actions and internal and external influences on Hamas, including: expressed values of the group, Palestinian popular support measures, leaders’ personalities and innovation (weapons and tactics), Israeli influence and targeted killings, peace processes and conflicts in Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Egypt. With newly assembled datasets on Hamas’ violent acts and public statements, Israeli Targeted Killings, historical measures of popular support and extensive field interviews, the book offers a fresh perspective on insurgent group violence by demonstrating under what conditions the group exercises violence or refrains from doing so. This book will be of much interest to both policy makers and students of the Arab-Israeli conflict, political violence, Middle Eastern politics, security studies and international relations in general. ‘This impressive book is an outstanding contribution to the study of insurgent groups. While focusing on Hamas as a case in point, Davis has formed a new methodology for studying the relationship between insurgent groups' public support and their decision to use violence. Using both interviews with a broad array of actors and observers and sophisticated quantitative analysis of violent activity and public opinion polls, Davis' work has set a new standard of research in the area of political violence. It is a must reading for anyone interested in this field.’ -- Ariel Merari, Tel Aviv University, Israel ‘This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the complexity of the conflict and the tensions between Hamas and other rival groups in the Middle East. The analysis is based on solid empirical data and uses modern methodologies of field work, analyzing sacred values and statistical evidence for exploring Hamas's use of violence. Its conclusions would be a great help to the US and its allies in defeating radicalism, and have therefore implication for ISIS as well.’ -- MG (ret.) Isaac Ben-Israel, Israeli Space Agency, Israel ‘An insightful study of Hamas behavior and use of violence. It fills a serious gap in our knowledge of the group’s decision making process and the critical role played by public opinion in its calculus. Furthermore, the book provides a greater understanding of the role of violence in Palestinian-Israeli relations since the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1993. The special focus on the second intifada helps us better understand the dynamics of its eruption as well as its resilience and the reasons it gradually abated. The discussion on the Palestinian 2006 elections helps us understand how Hamas shrewdly capitalized on its intifada years to integrate itself into the Palestinian political system. As the book traces the evolution of Hamas-Israel relations and wars, it also provides an excellent examination of Hamas’ regional calculations during and after the "Arab Spring," as well as its relations with its domestic counterpart, Fatah, reconciliation efforts, and its governance record in the Gaza Strip. The book provides a good example of the predicament a militant Islamist group faces between its responsibility to care for the population that elects it and its own "resistance" value that the group declares to be its essence.’ -- Khalil Shikaki, Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Palestinian Territories ‘Using multiple methods and drawing upon a diverse array of sources, including information gathered during fieldwork in the Palestinian Territories and in Israel, this impressive volume offers, first, a thorough account of Hamas’s evolution across a periodized history of the years between the first intifada and the present and, second, a careful testing of hypotheses about the determinants and consequences of politically motivated violence. Filled with valuable information and insight, the book can be read with much profit both as rich and detailed history and as a theoretically-motivated investigation into political violence. Essential reading for those interested in the organization, behavior, and strategic thinking of Hamas and in generalizable insights about the use of violence by insurgent groups.’ -- Mark Tessler, University