Palestinian state along Green Line gets Hamas nod
THE ISLAMIC resistance movement in Gaza, Hamas, has made a ground-breaking change to its charter by accepting a Palestinian state along the 1967 Green Line, the internationally recognised border which separates Israel from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The organisation, which controls the coastal territory, hitherto had said it would only recognise a Palestinian state on all of historic Palestine which includes the occupied territories and Israel.
However, the group on Monday referred to the charter, saying it refused to “recognise the legitimacy” of the “Zionist entity”, referring to the Jewish state.
“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 June 4, 1967, agreement 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.
Despite the change, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the statement regarding the charter a “smoke screen”, Israeli news daily Haaretz reported. “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 new charter emphasised the importance of Jerusalem as the future Palestinian state’s capital, and the holiness of the Al Aqsa Mosque to Palestinians and Muslims, while accusing the Israeli occupation of attempts to put a Jewish stamp on the mosque.
The group maintained its stance on Palestinian refugees, saying the right of return was an “inalienable, natural right”, both individual and collective, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.
“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 also defended the legitimacy of armed resistance, but accepted non-violent resistance as well. – ANA