Hamas unveils new charter, accepts 1967 borders for future Palestinian state

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced its new charter Monday evening, presenting an acceptance of a Palestinian state along the 1967 “Green Line” border, while rejecting any legitimacy of “the Zionist entity”, in reference to “Israel”.

“Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. However, without compromising its rejection of the Zionist entity and without relinquishing any Palestinian rights, Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus,” the charter read.

The acknowledgement of the 1967 borders came as a vast departure from the group’s previous stance, which held that “all Palestinian land is sacred; there can be no end to the conflict with Israel.”

Despite the change, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement regarding the charter, calling it a “smoke screen,” according to Israeli news daily Haaretz.

“We see Hamas continuing to invest all of its resources not just in preparing for war with Israel, but also in educating the children of Gaza to want to destroy Israel,” the statement said.

The charter went on to emphasize the importance of Jerusalem as the Palestinian state’s capital and the importance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to Palestinians and Muslims, saying that “the occupation’s plots, measures and attempts to judaize Al-Aqsa and divide it are null, void and illegitimate.”

The Islamic resistance movement maintained its stance on the issue of the Palestinian refugees, saying that the right of return is an “inalienable” and “natural right, both individual and collective.”

“The Zionist project is a racist, aggressive, colonial and expansionist project based on seizing the properties of others,” the charter said, in reference to Israel, adding that “it is hostile to the Palestinian people and to their aspiration for freedom, liberation, return and self-determination.”

Hamas maintained the legitimacy of armed resistance against the occupation, thought it accepted other forms of nonviolent resistance as well, saying that “managing resistance, in terms of escalation or de-escalation, or in terms of diversifying the means and methods, is an integral part of the process of managing the conflict.”

In another departure from the movement’s previous charter, written in 1988, Monday’s charter Hamas affirmed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion.”

“Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity,” the charter said.

The charter also mentioned Hamas’ positions regarding the Palestinian political process, and the Ramallah-based, Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA), which has seen a years long conflict with Hamas worsen in recent weeks, with Hamas leaders on Sunday accusing the PA of putting into action a “big plan” aiming to “eliminate the Palestinian cause.”

“Hamas affirms that the role of the Palestinian Authority should be to serve the Palestinian people and safeguard their security, their rights and their national project,” the charter said, while simultaneously calling for free and fair national elections.