Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

HAMAS • 235Hamas boycotted the January 2005 PA presidential election, choosinginstead to focus on the January–May 2005 Palestinian municipalelections and the January 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections.In both of these, Hamas won much ground at the expense of alFatah, gaining 74 of the 132 seats in the PA legislature compared toal Fatah’s 45 seats. On 17 March 2005 Hamas declared a tahdiyah, orinformal cease-fire, that lasted 16 months until hostilities resumed inGaza on 10 June 2006. The tahdiyah effectively ended the period ofsuicide bombings against Israel that had intensified with the outbreakof the second intifada. In the period 1993–2000 Hamas had killed138 people in suicide attacks, but in the period 2001–2005 Hamaswas responsible for at least 52 attacks killing at least 349 people.In the several local Palestinian elections in 2004 and 2005, Hamasbeat al Fatah in most contested elections, although the electoralprocess was marred by confusion over the electoral rules and by irregularitiesat polling places. During the first round of Palestinianmunicipal and local council elections held on 23 December 2004 inthe West Bank, al Fatah won a majority of seats in 12 councils andHamas won a majority in seven councils, while no clear majoritywon the remaining seven council elections. In the Gaza elections heldon 27 January 2005, Hamas won control of seven of the 10 councils,al Fatah won control of two councils, and the Popular Front for theLiberation of Palestine (PFLP) won the remaining council. In thesecond round of elections, held in the West Bank on 5 May 2005 andin Gaza on 19 May 2005, al Fatah won control of 29 councils, Hamaswon control of 20 councils, and independents won in 22 councils,while nine councils were won by coalitions of parties. The third andfourth rounds of elections were scheduled for 29 September 2005 and15 December 2005, respectively, but in several locations electionswere not carried out.The 25 January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, in which74.6 percent of eligible voters participated, gave Hamas 74 seatsto al Fatah’s 45, while the PFLP gained three seats, a coalition ledby the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine gained twoseats, and various independents gained eight seats. Al Fatah’s declinein seats was probably in part due to disaffection among Palestinianswith corruption in the PA but also due to the much better politicalorganization and campaigning by Hamas. The split in power betweena Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council and an