Mondoweiss
Read the full translated text of the leaked Hamas charter
Adam Horowitz and Sheren Khalel on April 5, 2017 31 Comments
Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya visits the family of late Hamas leader
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was killed in an Israeli attack marking the
thirteenth anniversary of his death in Gaza City, March 22, 2017. (Photo:
Mohammed Asad/ APA Images)
The Lebanese al-Mayadeen news channel published on Monday a leaked new
charter for the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. The charter was allegedly
planned to be officially released by Khalid Mashaal, the president of the
political office of Hamas, at his last press conference before leaving
office. The leak has since been confirmed by Hamas official Ahmad Yousif.
Toufic Haddad, the author of the book Palestine Ltd: Neoliberalism and
National Liberation in the Occupied Territory, offered his analysis of the
document and said it illustrates the movement's maturation as a major
domestic political actor. Haddad pointed out that it responds to broader
regional and international trends of sectarianism and the "war on terror" by
repeatedly emphasizing Islam and Hamas' tolerance, moderation and opposition
to all forms of oppression, including making a clear distinction between
Zionism and Judaism, a distinction that has been noted elsewhere.
Mondoweiss obtained the details of the charter released by al-Mayadeen and
translated the full text. This translation was provided by a resident of
Aida refugee camp who would rather not have their name published out of fear
of reprisals from Israeli authorities.
In the name of God the merciful
The Islamic resistance movement Hamas (IRMH)
The Political Charter
Thank Allah, the god of people, our prayers and peace be upon our Prophet
Mohammed the master of missionaries and the imam of the mujahideen, and
peace to his family and partners, all of them.
The IRMH published since its establishment, and during its jihad journey,
considering it one of the items of the Palestinian national movements,
different charters clarifying their point of view and their political
vision.
And in this charter, the movement shows its principals and destinations in
which it depends on to build its vision, its speech and to determine its
behavior and political performance.
The definition of the movement:
1.The IRMH is a liberation, Islamic and Palestinian national resistance
movement. It aims to liberate Palestine and to fight against the Zionist
Project, its reference is Islam in its principles and goals.
Palestine's Land:
2. Palestine, with its historical known borders from Jordan's river in the
east to the mediterranean sea in the west, from Ras Al Nakora in the north
to Om Al Rashrash in the south, this land is Palestinian and a united
regional unit. Displacing Palestinians and creating a Zionist entity does
not cancel the right of Palestinians to their entire land, and does not
validate the Zionist entity to violate this land.
3. Palestine is an Arab and Islamic land, it is holy and blessed and it has
a special place in the heart of all Arabs and Muslims.
Palestine's People:
4. The Palestinians are the Arab citizens who lived in Palestine before
1947. Anyone who was displaced or stayed in Palestine, anyone who was born
from an Arab Palestinian father after 1947, inside or outside the country is
Palestinian.
5. The Palestinian personality is an original quality, does not disappear,
and it is transmitted from a father to children. The displacement that
happened to Palestinians from the Zionist occupation does not make them lose
their personality and belonging, as well as, having another nationality does
not make them lose their identification or national rights.
6. Palestinians make up one nation, with all Palestinians inside the country
and abroad, and with all its items religious, cultural or political.
Islam and Palestine:
7. Palestine is in the center of the Islamic and Arab world and it retains a
special importance. In Palestine is the al-Aqsa Mosque, which Allah blesses,
and it is the holy land that god blesses as well. It is the first
destinations for Muslims, and Prophet Mohammed's place where he started his
journey to the sky and heaven and the Nativity of Jesus. It is the land of
thousands and thousand of all prophets and messenger who passed in history
and it is the land of the people who have the right to stay until Allah
finishes this existence.
8. Hamas understands Islam in all its details, and it is appropriate for all
places and times in its neutral spirituality, and Hamas believes that it is
the religion of peace and forgiveness, and under its shadow all different
religious followers live safe and in safety. As well as it believes that
Palestine was and will stay as an example of coexistence, forgiveness and
civilian innovation.
9. Hamas believes that the message of Islam came with morals of justice,
truth, dignity and freedom, and is against injustice in all its shapes, and
criminalizes the criminals whatever their sex, color, religion or
nationality are. Islam is against all shapes of religious extremism,
sectarian extremism and ethnic extremism, and it is the religion that
teaches its followers to fight against the tyranny and help weak people and
it teaches its followers to sacrifice their time, money and themselves in
the defense of their dignity, land, people and holy places.
Jerusalem:
10. Jerusalem city is the capital of Palestine, it has its religious,
historical and civilian place in an Arab, Islamic and human way, and all its
Islamic and Christian holy places headed by Al Aqsa mosque is a
non-negotiable right for Palestine, Arab and the Islamic nations. We do not
surrender it or give any part of it, and all the occupation's procedures in
Jerusalem such as Judaization, settlement of the city as well as the forgery
of the truth, are illegal.
Refugees and the Right of Return:
11. The Palestinian cause is basically a cause of an occupied land and
displaced people, and the right of return for all Palestinians who were
displaced from the 1948 or 1967 lands, which means from the whole of
Palestine. Palestinians have the natural right to go back to their land,
which is a personal and general right for all Palestinians. Confirming this
right is all the religions, human rights and international law, and it is
non-negotiable for anyone, whether Palestinian, Arab or foreign.
12. Hamas refuses all projects that aim to destroy the refugees' cause,
including all attempts to naturalize them as citizens in other countries and
alternative home projects. Hamas considers the compensation for Palestinians
after displacing them and occupying their land as an essential right,
established after their return, and it does not cancel or reduce their
[physical] right of return.
The Zionist Project:
13. The Zionist Project is a racist, aggressive and separatist project based
on violating others' rights and is against Palestine's people and its vision
for freedom, liberation, sovereignty and the return of the refugees. And the
Israeli state is the tool of this project and its foundation.
14. The Zionist Project does not just attack the Palestinian people, it
attacks the Arab and Islamic nations as well, and it establishes a real
danger and gravelly threatens its security and interest. At the same time,
the project is against the future of the union, development and liberation
of that nation. The Zionist Project threatens international peace and
security, as well as the interests of humanity and stabilization.
15. Hamas differentiates between Jews as people of the holy book, and
Judaism as a religion and the occupation and the Zionist Project as
something separate, and it sees that the conflict is with the Zionist
Project not with the Jewish people because of their religion. And Hamas does
not have a conflict with the Jews because they are Jews, but Hamas has a
conflict with the Zionists, occupiers and aggressors, and will fight anyone
who tries to attack the Palestinian people or occupy their land whatever
their religion, nationality or identity may be.
16. Hamas refuses the persecution of any human being or violation of any
human right because of religion, ethnicity, sector or nationality. Hamas
sees that the Jewish problem and the "anti-semitism" and the injustice
against the Jewish people is a phenomenon related to European history, not
to the history of Arabs and Muslims or their heritage. The basic cause of
the formation of the Zionist movement was the phenomenon of anti-semitism.
The Zionist movement was able to occupy Palestine with the help of the
western colony, and this movement is the most dangerous model of settler
occupation, which was removed whole world and should be removed from
Palestine.
The Position on the Occupation and the Political Arrangement:
17. The Balfour Declaration and the British mandate convention on Palestine
is illegal, and the UN decision for Palestine's division, and all its
consequences and other conventions similar to it and the creation of Israel
was illegal from the beginning, and it is against the Palestinian's rights,
its determination, human rights, international law and the right of
sovereignty.
18. We do not recognize the Zionist state. All shapes of occupation,
settlements, Judaization and the forgery of truth are illegal. These rights
do not dissolve with time.
19. We do not leave any part of the Palestinian's land, under any
circumstances, conditions or pressure, as long as the occupation remains.
Hamas refuses any alternative which is not the whole liberation of
Palestine, from the river to the sea. And the creation of the Palestinian
independent state with its sovereignty, with Jerusalem as its capital, on
the borders of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees to
their homes from where they were displaced is a common national consensual
formula, and it does not mean the recognition of the Zionist state or the
surrendering of Palestinian rights.
20. Hamas refuses all conventions or initiatives and any projects that aim
to destroy the Palestinian cause or take away the rights of the Palestinian
people.
21. Hamas confirms that no peace in Palestine should be agreed on, based on
injustice to the Palestinians or their land. Any arrangements based on that
will not lead to peace, and the resistance and Jihad will remain as a legal
right, a project and an honor for all our nations' people.
The Resistance and the Liberation:
22. The liberation of Palestine is the Palestinians' duty in the first
place, and the Arab and Islamic nation's duty in general, and it is a human
responsibility according to human justice and rights. And all the
organizations and institutes such as: Palestinian, Arab, Islamic or human
are all integrated organizations with no problems or disharmony.
23. The resistance against the occupation, with all different tool or
instruments, is a legal right legalized by religious, traditional or
international law, and especially the armed resistance that is the strategic
option to protect our principles and get back our rights.
24.Hamas refuses to hinder the resistance or its weapons, and confirms the
right of our people to develop resistance tools and equipments. Hamas
confirms that the resistance leadership can decide the level of resistance
and can utilize a variety of the different tools and way to administrate the
conflict, without compromising the resistance.
The Political System:
25. The real state is the fruit of the liberation, and there is no
alternative to the creation of the Palestinian state, with its sovereignty
on the entire Palestinian land with Jerusalem as its capital.
26. Hamas believes in administering of the Palestinian relations under the
belief of pluralism, democracy, bilateral conversations and partnerships,
which makes stronger the union of the Palestinian line to achieve our
national goals and the aspirations of our people.
27. The PLO is a national diagram for Palestinian people inside the country
and abroad, which we should keep, with the importance of its development and
reconstruction on a democratic basis, including the participation of all the
parts and organizations of the Palestinian people, which conserve
Palestinian rights.
28. Hamas confirms the importance of building Palestinian national
organizations and references, using a democratic basis, starting with free
and fair elections, and on the basis of resistance and national partnership,
with a program and a clear strategy, confirming our rights and to achieve
the aspirations of our people.
29. The Hamas movement confirms its total rejection of Oslo's conventions,
its consequences and its results, which made contradictory compromises of
the benefits of the Palestinians.
30. The Hamas movement confirms that the role of the Palestinian Authority
must be in the service of the Palestinian people, and its security in order
to protect the people's rights and the national project.
31. Hamas confirms the importance of the independence of the Palestinian
decision, and not to relate it to any external issues, and confirms at the
same time, the responsibility of Arabs and Muslims and their duty to
liberate Palestine from the Zionist occupation.
32. The different parts of the Palestinian community: personalities, idols
and civilian social institutes, the youth, students, women and workers
unions, who work to achieve the national goals, are an important resource
for the social construction and for the resistance and liberation project.
33. The role of the Palestinian woman is a basis for the construction of
today and the future, as it was always in the making of Palestinian history,
and it is a central role in the resistance, liberation project and the
construction of the political system.
The Arab and Islamic Nation:
34. Hamas believes in the union of the nation with all its items such as
religious, ethnic and sectarian, and it sees the importance in avoiding
anything which may destroy this union.
35. Hamas believes that the Palestinian cause is the central cause for the
Arab and Islamic nation.
36. Hamas believes in cooperation with all the countries that support the
Palestinian people's rights, and refuses to be involved the internal issues
of other countries, or their conflicts and problems. Hamas adopts the policy
of opening relations with different countries of the world, especially Arab
and Islamic nations, and it aims to build stable relations, which aim to
unify the needs of the Palestinian cause, the interests of the Palestinian
people and the interest, development and security of the nation.
The Human and International Side:
37. The Palestinian cause is a cause with an international and human
dimension, and it is a civilian and human mission to be in solidarity and to
support it, which reflects human morals, justice and equality.
38. The liberation of Palestine from a legal and human regard is a project
that encompasses the needs of self-defense, and it is the natural right of
the people to achieve sovereignty.
39. Hamas believes in the morals of cooperation, justice, freedom, respect
and people's determination in its relations with the world's countries and
people.
40. Hamas welcomes the positions of the commissions and countries that
recognize the rights of Palestinian people, and condemns any side or
organizations that support the Zionist state, or help in covering their
crimes and aggressions against the Palestinians.
41. Hamas refuses any attempts of dominance over Arab and Islamic nations,
as well as any attempts of dominance over other nations and people of the
world, and condemns any type of colonization, occupation, injustice and
aggression in the world.