by C. Jacob
Yet Armed Struggle Will Continue, And Palestine Extends From River To Sea
On
May 1, 2017, Hamas published a policy document approved by all the
movement leaders. The leaders clarified that the document was not
replacing the Hamas Charter[1]
but was aimed at adapting the movement's position to the current time.
The document was presented by Hamas spokesmen as a development that did
not compromise their principles.[2]
In his announcement upon the release of
the document, Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al said that it had been decided
four years ago to draw up a political plan adapted to the policy that
Hamas was actually implementing, and that this plan would be the
movement's source of authority. Two years after that, he said, an
in-depth, detailed discussion began on the details of this plan; he
added that ultimately, after consultation with international legal
experts, a document in the name of all Hamas leaders had been drawn up.
Mash'al clarified that in this document, Hamas was presenting
"development" and "renewal" in its political function, just as it was
doing in the domain of its resistance and fighting, without compromising
on the movement's demands and on the rights of the Palestinian people.[3]
The policy document is aimed at casting
the movement in a pragmatic, democratic, tolerant, and non-extremist
light, in order to burnish its image in the world and to present a
political position that it shares with Fatah and the PLO. However, it is
full of internal contradictions that are unresolvable. One of these is
the contradiction between the political view that it sets out regarding a
state in the 1967 borders as a "formula for joint national agreement"
between Hamas, Fatah and the PLO and other statements in the document
setting out Hamas's unwillingness to relinquish any part of Palestine,
its demand for the refugees' return to their homes, and its
non-recognition of Israel. The document also states that Hamas insists
on continuing the armed struggle and jihad [4]
Image: Khaberni.com
What Has Changed?
The new policy document, which is aimed
both at Western ears and the Arab countries, includes no mention at all
of any connection between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB); it
defines Hamas as a national Islamic movement and not, as in the Hamas
charter, as the Palestinian branch of the MB. At the press conference at
which he released the document, Mash'al clarified that Hamas belonged
to the school of the MB, but that it was an independent Palestinian
organization not subordinate to any other organization.[5]
The document also does not highlight the Islamist aspect of the
movement – for example, there is no mention of the land of Palestine as
the land of the Waqf, i.e. Islamic endowment, as in the charter.[6]
The document attempts to distance Hamas
from the antisemitism that permeates its charter. It stresses that Hamas
is not fighting the Jews for their Jewishness, but is fighting the
occupation and the Zionist enterprise. It states: "Hamas opposes any
oppression of anyone or any damage to their rights due to nationality,
religion, or ethnic group. Antisemitism and oppression of the Jews are
phenomena connected to European history, not to Arab and Muslim history.
The Zionist movement is a dangerous example of the settlement
occupation that has passed from the world, and it must pass also in
Palestine."[7]
In contrast to and absolute negation of all the statements about negotiations with Israel in the Hamas charter, Mash'al explained that
at this time there is no place for Hamas-Israel negotiations:
"Negotiations are a tool, and we will treat it as something that [we]
can change [our position about]. Hamas's [current] policy opposes
negotiating with Israel because the timing right now does not permit
it. Today, Israel is using negotiations as a trick."[8]
However, in principle, he said, there is nothing to prevent such
negotiations, since "the Prophet [Muhammad] and Salah Al-Din spoke with
their enemies."[9]
What Remains The Same?
Continuing The Jihad And The Armed Struggle To Liberate Palestine
The document states: "The resistance and
the jihad to liberate Palestine will remain a legitimate right, duty,
and honor for all members of our people and our [Muslim] nation... The
resistance to the occupation by all methods and means is a legitimate
right that is assured by the divine laws and by the international laws
and rules – and first and foremost is the armed struggle that is
considered a strategic option to defend the principles and to
restore the rights of the Palestinian people... Hamas opposes any harm
to the resistance and its weapons and stresses the people's right to
develop means of resistance."[10]
"The right of the Palestinian refugees and
uprooted individuals to return to the homes from which they were
removed or to which they were prohibited from returning in the
territories occupied in 1948 or in 1967 – that is, all of Palestine – is
a natural individual and collective right... Hamas opposes any plans
and attempts to eliminate the refugees' cause, including attempts to
resettle them outside of Palestine and plans for an alternative
homeland. Hamas stresses that compensating the Palestinian refugees and
uprooted individuals for the damage caused them as a result of their
expulsion and the occupation of their land is a right that is connected
to their right to return, and [this compensation] will be implemented
after the right of return is actualized, and neither abnegates the
refugees' right of return nor takes anything away from it."[11]
Non-Recognition Of Israel; "Israel's Existence Is Null And Void From Its Establishment"
The Hamas document stresses that the
movement's stance vis-à-vis a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders
"does not necessarily mean recognition of the Zionist entity... Israel's
existence is null and void from its establishment, and it contravenes
the rights of the Palestinian people... There is no recognition of the
legitimacy of the Zionist entity."[12]
Palestine "From The River To The Sea"
The document states: "There is no
compromise on any part of Palestine under any conditions, any
circumstances, or any pressure, no matter how long the occupation
continues. Hamas rejects any alternative to the complete liberation of
Palestine from the river to the sea... Palestine in its borders from the
Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean in the West, and from Ras
Naqura [Rosh HaNikra] in the north to Umm Rashrash [Eilat] in the south
is a complete unit and the land and homeland of the Palestinian people.
Expelling the Palestinian people and exiling it form its land and the
establishment of the Zionist entity on it do not abnegate the right of
the Palestinian people to all of its land..."[13]
The Palestinian State
The section of the document that got the
most media attention, and that ostensibly attests to the development of
Hamas's pragmatism, is the one dealing with a Palestinian state in the
1967 borders. It is written in such a way that it is not possible to
understand clearly whether Hamas accepts the establishment of a
Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, noting only that it "regards
[this]... as a formula for joint national agreement" by Hamas, Fatah and
the PLO.
As noted, it states: "There is no
compromise on any part of Palestine under any conditions, any
circumstances, or any pressure, no matter how long the occupation
continues. Hamas rejects any alternative to the complete liberation of
Palestine from the river to the sea." It continues: "At the same time –
and this does not mean recognition of the Zionist entity or compromise
on any of the Palestinians' rights – Hamas regards the establishment of a
fully sovereign independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its
capital in the June 4, 1967 lines, and the return of the refugees and
the uprooted individuals to the homes from which they were expelled, as a
formula for joint national agreement."[14]
Additionally, it should be noted that the
position on the establishment of a state in the 1967 borders as "a
formula for joint national agreement" is not a new Hamas position.
Mash'al had declared it several times in the past, and the late Hamas
leader Ahmad Yassin spoke about it as well. This position has also appeared in the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreements. The only thing that is new about it is that this time it is in an official document expressing the position of the entire Hamas leadership that was approved by the movement's highest body, the Shura Council.
* C. Jacob is a research fellow at MEMRI.
[1] For a translation of the Hamas Charter, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1092, The Covenant Of The Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas, February 14, 2006.
[2] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[3] Youtube.com/watch?v=smbIS-YIT1g, posted May 1, 2017.
[4] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[5] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), May 1, 2017.
[6] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[7] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[8] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), May 1, 2017.
[9] Youtube.com/watch?v=smbIS-YIT1g, posted May 1, 2017.
[10] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[11] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[12] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[13] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
[14] Palinfo.com, May 1, 2017.
C. Jacob is a research fellow at MEMRI.
Source: https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-policy-document
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Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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