Essay about Counter Narcotics - 634 Words

Counter Narcotics One of the biggest problems in the United States today is the widespread use of narcotics. Currently, the United States has a very stern policy regarding the use, distribution, and trafficking of drugs. However, it is clear that the current U.S. policy is failing, and the supply of illegal drugs as well as the demand is increasing. The U.S. government has focused for years on dealing with the demand aspect of this issue. Through government programs directed towards education and national awareness of the harm that drugs cause, the government has been attempting to severely reduce the demand for narcotics. In all actuality, the demand may be higher now than ever before. To prevent the supply of illegal drugs from†¦show more content†¦If you take the drug war directly to the cartels, they will have no choice but to back down. The biggest problem with using this method is that by involving the U.S. military, we are basically declaring war and using force that will no doubt crea te international outrage against the U.S. We would be violating international law by using force against sovereign nations that we aren’t at war with. This policy calls for attacking criminals of the U.S. within the borders of other nations, a clear violation of international law. Not only would there be strong criticism from these certain nations, but the international community would be furious. These drug cartels are criminals of the U.S. though, and they are in direct violation of our law. Cutting down the supply would be much easier if we had the cooperation of foreign governments. Unfortunately, most of these governments are unwilling to fully aide us, and many are corrupt and help the cartels. These cartels have more money than the U.S. Government is willing to spend on ending the narcotics trade. This creates a major problem because these foreign governments would rather take money from drug lords instead of our government. Realistically, without the complete coopera tion of these foreign governments, we can’t diminish the supply unless we go in and use force ourselves. On many instances, we have trainedShow MoreRelatedEssay on terrorism1945 Words   |  8 Pagesself-sufficient as public infrastructure is seen as increasingly vulnerable to destruction or interruption (Parkinson 46). nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Ideas on how to stop or prevent terrorism are called counter terrorism. Everyone seems to have their own idea on how to stop terrorism. The Coordinator for Counter terrorism, Cofer Black, said: First, we must sustain and enhance the political will of states to fight terrorism. 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On D ecember 17, 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was introduced which heavily restricted the use of narcotics, and was based on racial fears and discrimination. The drafters of the bill stated that â€Å"negroes under the influence of drugs wereRead MoreCombating Drug Use in America1096 Words   |  5 Pagesand are forced to suffer with them. â€Å"Pharmacies used to sell cold and allergy medicines that contained pseudoephedrine over the counter. You could just grab that Sudafed or Theraflu and go. 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Treatments For Type 2 Diabetes - 1476 Words

Essay on â€Å"Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes† Introduction Diabetes mellitus is due to a lack of insulin production from beta cells in the pancreas resulting in an insufficient amount of insulin to be able to regulate the bodies blood sugar levels. This causes insulin resistance which is the inability of cells to respond properly to insulin in the fat tissues, muscles and liver. What normally happens in the liver is insulin suppresses glucose synthesis if the levels in the blood are to high and causes the cells especially in the liver to take in glucose and store it as glycogen. However during insulin resistance the liver continuously breaks down glycogen in glycogenolysis to release glucose into the blood. Once liver is saturated with†¦show more content†¦Hypoglycaemia is where the blood glucose levels become very low making you feel weak and hungry, this can be controlled by eating or drinking sugary foods. After a meal the glucose absorbed into the blood stream triggers alpha cells to realise glucagon into the bloodstream which s ignals the liver to bread down glycogen into glucose. This increases the glucose levels in the blood therefore insulin needs to be produced to lower the levels, people with diabetes take insulin injection or medication in response however this sometimes decreases the glucose levels to a point where its to low causing hypoglycaemia. Lifestyle changes Type 2 diabetes can be prevented and managed with simple lifestyle changes. If diagnosed the individual would have to look after their health for all their life. By eating healthy foods especially this low in fat, losing weight and exercising your blood glucose levels can be kept at a safe and healthy level without the need for drugs. Increasing fibre and reducing fat intake especially saturated fat can prevent type 2 diabetes. For people with diabetes, increase consumption of foods high in fibre can alter hormonal signals slowing down nutrient absorption in the large intestine. Keeping your weight down by gradually reducing calorie intake and becoming physically

Effect of Information Technology free essay sample

EFFECTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON CUSTOMERS’ SATISFACTION IN NIGERIAN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. By ERNEST E. INYANG, A. D. O. OTONKUE AND JUDE U. BASSEY ABSTRACT Information technology may be considered to be the harnessing of electronic technology in its various forms to improve the operations and profitability of the business as a whole. Information Technology provides significant improvements with facilities such as word processing (improving secretarial, typing and some reprographic services) communication facilities in the form of electronic mail, databases in relation to filing and data retrieval. Such advances improves business efficiency eliminating unnecessary delays in communication between different parts of the organization and dealing with routine filing and correspondence. KEY WORD: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, CUSTOMER’S SATISFACTION INTRODUCTION This research is the lack of investigation on the effects of information technology in delivering service to customers, especially in the financial services sector. Hence, this research work hinges on the effect of an information technology enabled electronic delivery channel on overall customer satisfaction. This is the assumption that higher customer satisfaction leads to sustainable revenue growth and profitability. This claims is based on the arguments provided in Heskett etal (1997) that profit and growth are estimated primarily by customer loyalty and loyalty is a direct result of customer satisfaction. This research work is undertaken with a view to finding out whether good performance of Nigerian financial institutions is largely due to implementation of information technology and also to improve upon the existing marketing activities of Nigerian financial institutions, so as to ave high customers’ satisfaction. For the purpose of this study the hypothesis tested is: Ho:Information Technology has no positive impact on customers’ satisfaction in Nigerian financial institution. Hi:Information Technology has positive impact on customers’ satisfaction in Nigerian financial institutions. This research work is significant in the sense that it would help to identify ways of improving the services of Nigerian financial institutions. It may also serve as a basis on which future research on information technology and customer satisfaction may be based. REVIEW OF SOME RELATION LITERATURE According to Kinshnan etal (1999), financial service companies have products such as current and servings accounts and in some cases may also offer insurance policies. An interesting aspect of financial service companies is that they do not fully fit into the mould of full service industries that offer tangible products and full service industries. The notion of quality in financial service firms is quite different from that in manufacturing companies. The nature of the financial service industry is such that its products are mostly intangible for instance, in an investment company, the product delivered is not the stock certificate, but the investment it represents, as well as the peripheral services such as online account services and accurate periodic reports. Since customers do not view the actual product as a full product, the service accompanying the product is very important in consequence, in modeling overall customer satisfaction for financial service companies, it is important to include both product and service attributes. Prior research has identified specific attributes to quality that are linked to customer satisfaction in both manufacturing and service industries (Garvin 1988, Zeithamal etal, 1990). Research on service quality has generally investigated the quality attributes of certain service encounters (Zeithamal etal, 1990). There is a paucity of research and guidance in understanding the drivers of overall customer satisfaction at the firm level. This is true especially for multi-channel firms that are increasingly becoming the norm in the financial services sector Frei (etal, 1995). Roth and Jackson (1995), in one of the few rigorous empirical studies on the financial service industry identified the determinants of service quality in the banking industry. The analysis indicated that the quality of customer interface positively influences service quality. However, the study used a composite measure for the quality of customer interface that includes various factors such as responsiveness to customer inquiries, accuracy of account statements, timeliness of mailing account statements, customer complaints and processing errors. According to Kinshnan etal (1999), in the financial services business, the notion of customer interface is multifaceted and may vary, depending upon the channel of service delivery. While all the service encounters mostly involve the customer in one way or the other the nature of personal interactions with customers at branches differs from that of IT enabled automated delivery channels. There is a need for a deeper understanding of this distinction for firms to leverage overall customer satisfaction. Different components of the customer interface may have varying impacts on satisfaction across the customer population. METHODOLOGY The various information generated in the course of this research were obtained through participatory observations of twenty–four selected financial institutions and through questionnaires administered to the management and the customers of the selected financial institutions. The set of questions asked from the respondents were such that will elicit more information concerning the institutions internal operation especially in relation to customers’ satisfaction with the operations of the institutions. In the course of this research work, a good number of respondents randomly selected were interviewed. The information targeted by the research work include the following: a. Sourcing of the institutions information technology equipment such as the computer systems and the peripherals. b. Effectiveness of the institution’s channels of distribution. c. Satisfaction of the customers in the operations of the financial institution. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation coefficient are used to analyze the data. Analysis of variance technique makes use of the F-formula and drastically reduces computational labour involved in many samples. The ANOVA procedure is based on the mathematical theory that the independent sample data can be made to yield two independent estimates of the population variance, namely, within group variance estimate and between group variance estimate. The ANOVA formula for the computed F–ratio is: F = MSSB/MSSW at a = 0. 05 and n – 1, m-1 degrees of freedom. Where: MSSB is the mean squares of between groups MSSW is the mean squares of within groups Decision rule:- If the calculated F – value is less than the tabulated (critical) value then HO is accepted. And if the calculated value then the difference is significant and H0 is rejected. The surveyed customers were given a list of fire effects on lickert rating as follows:- 1. Very good 4 points 2. Good3 points 3. Average or fair2 points 4. Poor or Bad1 p0int 5. No Answer0 point Six factors were considered in the analysis. These are: a. Quality of computerization. (QCOMPUT) b. Quality of institutions services vis- a – vis the use of computing facilities (QSVC). C. Impact of Information Technology on customers satisfaction (ITIMPACT). d. Level of computerization (IT LEVEL). e. Effects of computerization on customers’ waiting time (WAITIME). f. Overall customers’ satisfaction with financial institutions services (OSATIS). DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS DATA ANALYSIS The averaged responses from the selected financial institutions on the factors are as shown in Table 1 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS The ANOVA table analyses the variability of the customers’ satisfaction. The F – column displays the ratio of the mean square for the regression to the mean square error of the residuals. This is called the F – ratio. A large value shows that the regression may be statically significant. The ratio is approximately 14. 52. This shows that the result is statistically significant. The correlation coefficient expresses the strength of the relationship on a search ranging from -1 to +1. a positive value close to +1 indicates a strong positive relationship in which an increase in one variable implies an increase in the value of the second variable. A negative correlation indicates that an increase in the first variable signals a decrease in the second variable. From the correlation Table 1, there is a positive correlation between the level of information technology (column 6) and overall customer satisfaction (column 4). In terms of Hypothesis Testing, the will hypothesis â€Å"there is no positive relationship between level of Information Technology and overall customer satisfaction is rejected. Hence, the level of information technology has a positive impact on customer’s satisfaction in Nigerian financial institutions. The results obtained from the response show that the introductions of computing facilities was greatly improved the services of financial institutions. There was 10% response for effect of IT on reduced waiting time. For quality of service vis–a–vis computerization there were 70. % responses for High Quality, 25% for Good Quality and 4. 2% for No Answer. This shows that the Quality of financial services with respect to computerization is High with respect to Quality of computerization there were 50% responses for High Quality, 45. 8% for Good Quality and 4. 2% for Average. This shows that the Quality of computerization ranges between High Quality and Good Quali ty not all the financial institutions have attained High Quality of computerization. Based on the level of Information Technology implementation, there were 20. 8% responses for High level, 75. % for Average level and 4. 2% for No answer. The figures show that the financial institutions have just attained the average level of Information Technology Implementation on the impact of Information Technology on customers’ satisfaction, there were 100% responses for positive impact. This shows that Information Technology has positive impact on customer’s satisfaction in financial institutions. It is also discovered that all the financial institutions considered responded that their areas of computer applications are word processing, payroll processing and communications. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The world is dynamic. Also, the nature of needs and wants of the generality of consumers keep on changing. It goes without saying that any organization intending to maintain a good level of profitability and improved performance has to be duly prepared for all these changes and cope favorably with them. This calls for effective implementation of appropriate information technology to accommodate these changes with minimum stress. Though it is recognized that Information Technology would certainly cost a lot of capital, it would be a good and productive investment. Computers and telecommunication systems have become very important as delivery system and productivity tools of electronic data and information. Nigeria financial institutions have now realized that financial services to day require prompt delivery of services, efficiency and the ability of customers to be served in any of their branches in any part of the country, without any encumbrances. As a result of these, financial institutions are embarking on the use of computer applications software, internet facilities that can help them to provide efficient, comprehensive and nationwide services to their customers. And these have resulted in an overwhelming customers satisfaction. To function effectively and competitively, the financial institutions should: a. Lay emphasis and rely heavily on Information Technology b. Introduce a sound quality management programme that would ensure that Information Technology implementation Products meet the requirements of Nigerians. c. Create an awareness of IT opportunities into the business planning process. REFERENCES Berk K. N. Carey P. (2000). â€Å"Data Analysis with Microsoft Excel. † USA: Duxbury Thomas Learning Centre. Bowen, J. W Hedges, R. B. (1993). â€Å"Increasing service quality in Retail Banking. † Retail Banking Journal 15(3). pp. 21, 28. Fornel C. , Ryan, M. J. West Brook R. A. (1999). â€Å"Customer satisfaction: The key to Retention MOBIBUS† 9(3), pp 14-18. Grifell–Tatje, E. Lovell, CAK (1999): â€Å"Profits and Productivity†, Management Science, vol 45, No 9 Sept. 1999, pp. 1177 – 1193. Harker, P. T. Zenious (1999) â€Å"Performance of Financial Institutions†. Management Science vol. 45, No. 9 Sept. 1999. Krishna K. (2009): â€Å"Trade Investment and Growth†. Nexus, analysis and prognosis. Roth and Jackson (1995): Strategic Determinant of Service Quality and performance: Evidence from the Banking Industry; management science 41(11), pp 1720 – 1733 Soteriou, A. (1999): â€Å"Operations Quality and Profitability in the Provision of Banking Services. † Management Science 49(9), pp. 1221 – 1238. TABLE 1 AVERAGE RESPONSES OF RESPONDENTS |FIN INSTI |WAITIME |Gcompt |gsvc |OSATIS |ITIMPACT |TOTAL |ITLEVEL | |1 |5 |4 |4 |3 |3. |19. 6 |39. 2 | |2 |3. 6 |4 |4 |3. 6 |5 |20. 2 |4 | |3 |3 |3 |3. 6 |4 |4 |17. 6 |3 | |4 |5 |3. 6 |3. 6 |4 |5 |21. 2 |3. 6 | |5 |5 |4 |4 |3. 6 |4. 3 |20. |4 | |6 |3. 6 |5 |4. 3 |4. 3 |4 |21. 2 |3. 3 | |7 |4 |3. 6 |5 |5 |4. 3 |21. 9 |5 | |8 |3 |4 |4 |4. 3 |4 |19. 3 |4 | |9 |3. 6 |5 |4 |4 |4. 3 |20. |4 | |10 |5 |5 |5 |5 |4 |24 |5 | |11 |4 |4 |5 |5 |4 |22 |4 | |12 |4 |5 |5 |4 |5 |23 |5 | |13 |3 |4 |3 |4 |4 |18 |5 | |14 |3. |4 |3. 6 |3 |5 |18. 9 |4. 3 | |15 |3. 6 |4 |5 |5 |5 |22. 6 |5 | |16 |4 |3. 6 |4. 3 |4 |4 |19. 9 |3. 6 | |17 |5 |4 |4 |4 |4 |21 |4 | |18 |3. |4. 3 |4 |4. 3 |4 |20. 2 |4. 3 | |19 |4 |3. 6 |3. 6 |4 |4. 6 |19. 8 |4 | |20 |3 |3. 6 |4 |4 |5 |19. 6 |3. 6 | |21 |5 |4 |4 |4. 6 |5 |22. |3. 6 | |22 |5 |4 |4 |3. 6 |4. 3 |20. 9 |4 | |23 |4 |3 |4 |4 |4 |19 |4 | |24 |3. 6 |4 |4 |5 |4 |20. 6 |5 | The tabulated or critical value of F – using the F – table is as shown in the ANOVA table. ANOVA: Single Factor |Source of variation |SS |DF |MS |F |P-Value |F-critical | |Between Groups: |5602. 5023 |6 |933. 75038 |1452. 132 |32. 18E-137 |2. 1553035 | |Within Groups: |103. 52625 |161 |0. 6430202 | | | | |Total |5706. 285 |167 | | | | | Decision: The calculated F – value is 1452. 132. the critical F-value is 2. 15. Since the calculated F – value is greater than the tabulated F-value. Ho is rejected and H1 is accepted which implies that information technology has positive impact on customers satisfaction in Nigerian financial institution. THE CORRELATION COEFFICIENT TABLE IS AS SHOWN BELOW |Column 1 |Column 2 |Column 3 |Column 4 |Column 5 |Column 6 | |Column 1 |1 | | | | | | |Column 2 |0. 116777 |1 | | | | | |Column 3 |0. 197878 |0. 369635 |1 | | | | |Column 4 |-0. 6824 |0. 130663 |0. 580463 |1 | | | |Column 5 |-0. 04909 |0. 006001 |0. 037217 |-0. 08049 |1 | | |Column 6 |-0. 09995 |0. 315265 |0. 373817 |0. 465422 |0. 128972 |1 | KEY: Column 1 – WAITIME; Column 2 – QCOMPT; Column 3 – QSVC; Column 4 – OSATIS; Column 5 – ITIMPACT, Column 6 – ITLEVEL

Profile of Hamas free essay sample

This document is a Microsoft Word template designed to help you complete your assignment. Please use it alongside the full assignment guidelines which can be accessed from the Module and Assignment Information section on the module homepage on the LMS. You must type and submit your assignment on this template. Remember, you need to save this template to your computer before you start typing your assignment. If you don’t save it to your computer you will lose your work. You should then submit your assignment by email to: [emailprotected] ac. uk |Date |16 may 2013 | |Name |Dennis Donald Ribeiro-Addy | |Email address |[emailprotected] co. k | |Student ID Number |Dr1285 | |Topic |PROFILE OF HAMAS | |Total Number of Words |2655 | Please ensure that your completed assignment contains proper references (check your Welcome Pack or the Essay Writing Introduction on the LMS, for guidance) and a Bibliography. Be careful not to use privileged information when writing your assignment, but only information from open sources. We will write a custom essay sample on Profile of Hamas or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Assignment Topic The table below displays the assignment topic in brief. |Assignment |Description |Assignment Outcome | |Write a Profile of a Terrorist Group |You will write a profile of any one of the terrorist |This assignment will help you to | | |groups provided as options. understand what factual details to | |Options | |study, to analyse the data and be able| |(select any one) |The assignment will necessarily focus on two aspects –|to judge the lethality, impact and | | |Facts and Analysis. |strategic tendencies of a terrorist | |IRA * | |group. | |LTTE |1. Analysis | | |give a brief background to the origins |You will also provide a brief assessment of the | | |of the IRA, before covering the more |group’s impact and write a comment on the future of | | |recent history including the Troubles, |the group. | | |the ideological ifferences leading to | | | |the splits between OIRA, PIRA and RIRA | | | |(and CIRA), up to the present day, | | | |taking careful account of the | | | |assignment tasking. | | Facts HAMAS: A PROFILE Hamas is one of the several organisations designated as a terrorist group by the United States Government and the Government of Israel. Its name stands for the Al-Harakat Al-Muqawwama Al-Islamiyya in Arabic or simply, the Islamic Resistance Movement as explained by Robert Satloff. HAMAS as an Arabic word connotes zeal or enthusiasm which is a perfect driving force behind its violent activities both in the the Gaza strip and the occupied territories of Israel. HAMAS is domiciled in the Gaza City, where it wields so much political power after its electoral success in the January 2006 elections. Hamas therefore governs the Palestinian territories except the West Bank which is controlled by its sister rival Fatah. It is therefore not just a terrorist organisation seeking to destabilise Israel but a political force seeking to establish its legitimacy and relevance from the mandate of the people of Palestine. Hamas has refused up to date to recognise the right of Israel to exist and has particularly sought to undermine the Oslo Peace Accord. Origins of HAMAS Hamas was founded in 1987 in response to the Palestinian uprising or ‘intifada’. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood which was founded in Egypt as a religious and political organisation in the early 1920s with the aim of pushing for the realisation of Islamic ideals across the globe, particularly within the Middle East and North Africa. This is in conformity to several other international Islamic terrorist organizations that claim to have direct and indirect links to the Muslim Brotherhood. HAMAS has Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of Egypt as its founding father who early on founded the predecessor to HAMAS-the Mujama-as a charity organisation. Out of his charitable vision, HAMAS has flourished from being a merely charitable organisation into a well organised international terrorist organisation that receives commendation and condemnation from allies and foes across the globe respectively. As Siddharth Ramana puts it succinctly, â€Å"HAMAS is a unique actor in the Middle Eastern politics Hamas was an outcome of the Muslim brotherhood, an international Sunni Movement, of which Hamas is the Palestinian chapter†(www. WorldAnalysis. net, 2013) Aims and Ideology of HAMAS As an organisation, HAMAS is driven by a primary mission. As such, HAMAS has captured all its intentions and mission in its Charter of 1998 which was adopted to serve as a guide to how it operates. This mission is in two folds- first, to realise the annihilation of the State of Israel and second, to establish an Islamic rule within the Gaza strip and West Bank. As captured by Dr. Amy Zalman in her analysis of HAMAS as a terrorist organisation, she states that HAMAS â€Å"combines Islamic objectives with Palestinian nationalism†, (Zalman, 2013). HAMAS therefore considers the destruction of the state of Israel as its utmost goal since its continued existence poses a threat to their aim of spreading Islamic rule within the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, aside retrieving the land they think rightfully belongs to the Palestinians. Therefore, over the 25 years of its existence, all activities of HAMAS have therefore been geared towards inflicting pain and havoc on the Israelis through bombings, abductions and killings in various forms (Zalman, 2013). The ideology of HAMAS is shared by several Islamic leaders across the Middle East and North Africa, the most prominent among them being the current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who echoed the HAMAS goal that the State of Israel ought to be â€Å"annihilated† at all cost. Leadership of HAMAS The leadership of HAMAS has always been dominated by radical Islamic scholars and well educated professionals. According to Robert Satloff in his article A primer on Hamas: Origins, Tactics, Strategy and Response, there are three circles of leadership for Hamas. These are the local leaders within the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which include current leaders such as Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Al-Zahar, then the external â€Å"political bureau’’ made up of Khalel Mashal and Musa Abu Marzouk and members of the international Muslim Brotherhood comprising leaders such as Muhammad Akef-head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Eqypt and Yusuf Al-Qaradawi of Qatar. It shows how globally widespread the leadership of Hamas is. Generally, the leadership of HAMAS is not clearly and accurately defined since it is most likely part of their strategy to remain elusive to Israeli and US government targets. As stated by GlobalSecurity in its report- Hamas Leadership, ‘‘Hamas decided to try to avoid creating targets for Israel. Since that decision, Hamas has not had a clear single leader†, (www. GlobalSecurity. com, 2013). Particularly, HAMAS has kept information on most of its very important leaders in the dark after the Israeli government killed two of its most prominent leaders, Sheik Ahmed Yassin on 22 March 2004 and Abdel Aziz Rantisi on 17 April 2004. Originally founded by Sheik Ahmed Yassin of the Gaza Strip, HAMAS has been very economical with information on the location of its leadership team members. However, as is the case with many organisations, the vision of the founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin in many ways still directs the way HAMAS is run. A key legacy of Sheik Ahmed Yassin is the 1988 Charter which largely captures his vision of HAMAS in great detail and provides a comprehensive framework for its realisation and implementation up to today. In essence, his vision of HAMAS lives on although he has passed on 9 years ago. However, Thomas Joscelyn posists that the external leadership of HAMAS wielded much more radical influence on the group than its internal leadership in the Gaza Strip (Thomas, 2006). Currently, Hamas is headed by Khaled Meshaal who was re-lected in April 2013 by the powerful Shura Council of Hamas. He was born in the West Bank but lived most of his life in exile, in Syria and Egypt. He has also survived several assassination attempts in the past. Other notable leaders of Hamas are the US educated industrial engineer Musa Abu-Marquz , Cairo educated doctor Mahmoud al-Zahar, the US educated Aziz Dweik, Sheik Hassan Yousef, Sheik Muhammed Abu Tayr and Mohammed Deif ( www. GlobalSecurity. org, 2013). It is also worthy of mention that most of the Hamas leadership are highly educated with most of them being educated in the United States of America or Egypt. Structure of HAMAS Hamas seems not to have any well-established organisational structure for governance although it has both military and political ambitions. At best, it is structured in a way that cannot be easily deciphered by any observer since the roles of its leaders seem overlapping and its political and military arms closely interconnected making it difficult to make any distinctions between the two. For instance, Sheik Ahmed Yassin played the dual role of both a political leader and a military mastermind for the organisation from the several interviews he granted when he was alive (ibid). Nevertheless, it is admissible that Hamas has grown in both scope and scale over time, derived from the pursuit of its original objectives of providing charitable services to the people of Palestine and Egypt while fighting what it terms the â€Å"Israeli occupation† so as to establish an Islamic government in the region. HAMAS has both political and military departments through which it pursues its activities. Through its government in the Palestinian held territories, Hamas enforces security and order and collects taxes from the people to run its government. The Izz Al Din Military wing created by Hamas is very much responsible for the prosecution of its military objectives and the meting out of violence on people it considers the enemies of Islam, especially Jews. Strategies and Attack Record of HAMAS HAMAS is a highly sophisticated organisation that receives support from its sympathisers from within Gaza Strip and abroad. As chronicled by Dr. Amy Zalman and Robert Satloff, the strategy of HAMAS has largely been to wreck havoc on the State of Israel and its citizens through its use of violent force such as suicide bombings, grenade attacks, kidnappings, abductions, short-range rocket attacks and murder using knives. Also, HAMAS over the years has consistently kept the practice of issuing fierce rhetoric against the State of Israel through the media. . Interestingly, HAMAS was originally founded as a non-violent movement to pursue charitable deeds among the Muslims populations of Egypt and Palestine. Over the years HAMAS has carried out various notable but deadly attacks on the State of Israel in keeping faith with its avowed aim of exterminating Jews. These attacks have led to the colossal lost of human lives and property: First, the killing of two Israeli soldiers and the kidnapping of young Gilad Shalit, an Israeli corporal on June 25th, 2006 was a major achievement for the HAMAS group. It offered the captured corporal Gilad Shalit as a bargaining chip for the release of Palestinian prisoners who were languishing in Israeli jails. This strategy eventually yielded fruits for HAMAS when Gilad Shalit was exchanged for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli-Palestinian Prisoners Of War (POW) swap in 2011 (www. CNN. com, 2011) Second, an attack by a HAMAS suicide bomber on the Jerusalem bus station on 6th February, 1996 led to the death of 9 Israeli soldiers and 17 civilians, with several others wounded. Third, an attack on a bus terminal at Tel Aviv which resulted in the death of 21 Israelis and a Dutch tourist was another fatal blow inflicted by HAMAS on the Israelis. Further, HAMAS has claimed responsibility for several hundred grenade and suicide attacks on Israel for most parts of its existence as an organisation (www. GlobalSecurity. com, 2013) Evidently, although the cardinal goal of HAMAS has been to inflict pain and injury on the State of Israel with its citizens and interests home and abroad, it has in many cases attacked and killed people from many other countries too. Hamas has equally aligned itself to the Muslim Brotherhood globally in promoting its own agenda and shares sympathy with other pro-Jihadist organisations. It receives funding from the Islamic Republic of Iran in particular and many private donors, particularly of the Muslim Brotherhood fraternity as well as other Arabian Gulf-countries. According to Dr Amy Zalman, most of these funds are channelled through Islamic Charity organizations which have been clamped down due to the international fight against terrorism. These alliances provide a critical financial basis for it its capacity to thrive in the face of all the threats it is faced with itself as an organization. Analysis HAMAS: IT’S IMPACT Hamas has demonstrated throughout its existence so far that is committed to the destruction of Israel through its acts of terrorism irrespective of the consequences. It thus operates a highly sophisticated network of donors, sympathisers and leaders as well as adherents who all see the mission of HAMAS as a means to a â€Å"justified and justifiable† end. The impact of HAMAS has been both internal, within the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and external, within the Arabian Middle East countries, particularly in Iran, Syria, Jordan and Egypt in North Africa where it has kept close cultural and religious ties to the people and the leadership regimes. Within the West Bank, HAMAS has managed to make itself a very relevant political force that cannot be ignored by the United States Government or the Israeli government in their discussions related to the peaceful resolution of the â€Å"occupation† crisis as seen from the eyes of HAMAS. It is one of the constants in the Palestinian power equation where it continues to shape the balance of power with Fatah and the PLO. The Palestinian Liberation Authority (PLO) which for many years was led by its revered figure Yassar Arafat, arguably has been made less powerful by the emergence of HAMAS as a government within the Gaze Strip. Through its charitable acts and the provision of essential services such as schools, security, clinics and health centres, HAMAS has endeared itself to the people of their controlled territories. The confidence reposed in HAMAS by the people as against FATAH , the rival , faction is the testament to their relevance in the power relations within Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It also stands to reason therefore that their goal of the Islamisation of the West Bank and its Gaza territories have not been a mere rhetoric but a goal it has achieved so far. HAMAS is also the catalyst for the radicalisation of Palestinians without which it cannot prosecute its political and violent acts. Further, HAMAS has through its alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood, kept the Arabian region of the Middle East alive with radical jihadist ideologies making the region a very volatile one. Several narratives on the Middle East crises point to the fact that Hamas is a unique schemer in the politics of the area. It is to all intents and purposes an Islamic ovement with a purely domestic agenda and activities restricted to the Gaza strip for now yet it also has capacity to be a transnational player influencing regional issues. Also from several accounts on Middle East conflict the chief feature of popularity of Hamas has been its active use of political Islam to solicit support for development activities in Gaza and destructive action against Israel. Consequently the impact of its ideology and tactics has received regional attention. In an article publishe d by Siddhartha Ranana in World Analysis he stated that for the Arab states Hamas proves to be a double edged sword. This is because on one hand it would like to express support for a group which actively opposes Israel while on the other hand threatens regimes in the region with the tactics it adopts and that essentially Hamas most visual and well publicized tactic is terrorism. The Future of HAMAS The future of HAMAS remains uncertain and unpredictable looking at the mission it has set for itself because the US and Israeli governments will never back down in labelling them as a terrorist organisation so far as their goal-the destruction of the state of Israel -remains unchanged. The US government policy regarding non-negotiation with terrorist organisations is to a large extent non-negotiable so there is much predictable difficulty in how the opposing parties can end many years of violent confrontation without sitting at the negotiating table. Also, the legitimacy HAMAS derives from the people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is another essential factor in the determination of its future. HAMAS is faced with the challenge of remaining relevant with its local populations by delivering services to the people while at the same time propagating its message of violence against Israel, home and abroad. It is this dilemma that HAMAS has to contend with for a long time to come. There is less possibility that a HAMAS led Palestinian Authority will receive favourable support from the international political circles should it continued to win elections legitimately since no country will want to associate with a terrorist organization be it a group, institution or overnment. The fate of HAMAS therefore fairly lies in the hands of its people who make those critical choices as to who leads them during elections. For HAMAS to continue to survive and operate, it will need the critical support of its international donors who are mostly from Iran, Syria and Egypt because without its financial muscle, it will become too weak to organise and operate within the region. These Islamic allia nces provide both material and ideological support for its continued survival. However, with the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hold on power coming to a close with over 686 candidates vying to replace him for the Iranian Presidency, coupled with the uprising across the middle East and Northern Africa resulting in socio-economic instabilities in some instances, there remains bigger clouds of uncertainty over the future role key state actors like Iran will continue to play in support of HAMAS. In the final analysis , the future of Hamas will depend on the leadership, sponsorship from allies, ideological support from the Muslim Brotherhood and the outcome of the Arab spring.