Palestine's Hamas Releases New Charter in Gesture Toward Peace

In an apparent move to ease tensions in Gaza with a gesture toward unity in the Palestinian liberation movement and efforts to garner support from Gulf Arab states and Egypt, Hamas released a new charter Monday that takes a softer stance on negotiations with Israel while still backing the right of oppressed peoples to wage armed resistance.

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The new statement accepts a future Palestinian state based on 1967 borders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a longstanding goal of its main political rival within the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Fatah movement, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

While it continues to refuse to recognize the apartheid state of Israel, it has distinguished between the group’s objection to Zionism rather than Jewish people.

It will also cut off its association with the Muslim Brotherhood, as Gulf Arab states and Egypt both label the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

"For Hamas ... it's a signal of their desire to align with conservative Sunni elements in the region and create some immunity," Beverley Milton-Edwards, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre and author of a book on Hamas, told Reuters.

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Israeli authorities, however, rebuked the news, highlighting that while the PLO's more radical wing is willing to take steps toward peace, Israel continues to insist on maintaining a hostile stance toward the occupied territories and a potential peace process.

"Hamas is attempting to fool the world but it will not succeed," said David Keyes, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The rift between Hamas and the PA began when Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

However, in January under a Russia-brokered deal, Fatah and Hamas formed a national unity government. The non-official Russian-mediated talks in Moscow began with the goal of restoring "the unity of the Palestinian people." Representatives from Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions were present at the meetings.

The first article of the new charter states that Hamas is a "Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement" that champions the fight to "liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project."