Opening the mind of Hamas


1) Amira Hass; 2) a disbelieving NY Times.


At a memorial service in Gaza City, March 27, 2017 for Mazen Fuqaha, assassinated on March 24th,  Hamas members display the Tawhid, the hand gesture signifying the oneness of God. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (R) with the son of Fuqaha, sitting on the shoulders of Hamas Gaza Chief Yehya Al-Sinwar. Photo by Marc Mohammed Salem/ Reuters

Somebody in Hamas Got Scared, and This Sentence Was Deleted

The more Israel dispossesses and kills, the easier it is for Hamas to persuade Palestinians to accept its new document of principles

By Amira Hass, Haaretz premium
May 03, 2017

One sentence from a draft of Hamas’ new “Document of General Principles and Policies” that was leaked about a month ago stood out for the way it differed from the ordinary Palestinian discourse. The sentence was part of a paragraph about antisemitism, “the Jewish problem” and the persecution of Jews that said this problem was linked to the history of Europe, not Arab and Muslim history.

“Anti-Semitism was a basic reason for the appearance of the Zionist movement,” it declared, before continuing in a familiar fashion. “The Zionist movement, which was able with the help of Western powers to occupy Palestine, is the most dangerous form of colonial occupation which has already disappeared from much of the world and must disappear from Palestine.”

Perhaps someday we’ll find out who proposed that sentence. Was it Hamas supporters in the West? Members of the organization sealed off in Gaza, for whom surfing the internet is their only freedom of movement, including to other ideas? Friendly historians who aren’t part of Hamas but advised the drafting committee? Hamas head Khaled Meshal?

The process of writing this document took about four years, and a large number of people read it and proposed changes. Hamas has a proven ability to carry out cooperative democratic processes. And indeed, this sentence – which added a refreshing complexity to the historical chain of events as described in the standard Palestinian narrative – doesn’t appear in the final version. Somebody got scared, raised a fuss, protested.

This regrettable excision nevertheless tells us something about the process of reflection that preceded the drafting of the document. Whoever demanded that this sentence be erased evidently understood it as a concession, an unnecessary emotional identification with and display of a smidgeon of understanding for the Jewish Zionist presence in this land. They apparently thought that distinguishing Zionism in such a way from international colonialism wouldn’t be seen as a nuance, but as a contradiction, one that would weaken the claim that the Zionist movement is the most dangerous form of colonialist occupation.

Another significant change that I found between the draft and the final version was in the article stating that Hamas distinguishes between “Zionism” and “Jews.” The draft said Hamas “distinguishes between Jews as a people of the book and Judaism as a religion, on the one hand, and the occupation and the Zionist project on the other.”

But the final version includes this distinction only via a negative. It says the conflict “is with the Zionist project, not with the Jews because of their religion.” Somebody, or several somebodies, was willing to delete a fundamental definition found in the Koran – that Jews (like Christians) are “people of the book” – in order to avoid the emotional/political concession of making any positive statement about Jews.

The third difference is in the article dealing with Hamas’ positions on the occupation and political agreements. According to the draft, “It is inconceivable that any peace in Palestine should be based on transgression against the Palestinian people, usurping their land and banishing them from their homeland.” But the final version says “transgression against the Palestinian people, usurping their land and banishing them from their homeland cannot be called peace.”

This is a fine but clear distinction. In the draft, peace is the subject, and perhaps also the desire, even if on absolutist terms. But in the final version, “peace” is merely a derivative, an imposed, an expected facade.

The more Europe acts as a foolish and irresponsible collaborator with the Israeli siege the less chance  for Hamas to hear other voices.

In terms of its rejection of a Jewish existence in this land, the document is no less hard-line than Hamas’ 1988 charter. But Israel is responding to Hamas’ positions and its potential to persuade others with even more destruction, closures, attacks, dispossessions and persecution. And the more it dispossesses and kills, the easier Hamas can persuade more of its countrymen to trust it and accept this document’s principles as written.

The nuances in the document, even though they were ultimately omitted, show that there are different views within Hamas. These nuances were born of exposure to other voices. But the isolation that Europe continues to impose on Hamas, as a foolish and irresponsible collaborator with the Israeli siege, greatly reduces the opportunity for Hamas members and their supporters to hear new premises.


In Palestinian Power Struggle, Hamas Moderates Talk on Israel

By Ian Fisher, NY Times
May 01, 2017

JERUSALEM — Hamas, the militant group built around violent resistance to Israel, sought on Monday to present a more moderate public face, taking its next shot in an intensifying struggle for leadership of the Palestinian cause and international recognition.

Released by Hamas just days before its chief rival, the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, was to meet President Trump, a new document of principles for the group calls for closer ties to Egypt, waters down the anti-Semitic language from its charter, and accepts at least a provisional Palestinian state — though it still does not formally recognize Israel.

With its statement, Hamas is trying to offer a more mainstream-friendly version of its vision for the Palestinian cause, and to gain ground against Mr. Abbas, whose influence is growing more tenuous.

Mr. Abbas is 82 years old, and his rivals within his own Fatah movement are increasingly open about the struggle to succeed him. Seeking to regain the initiative, he has recently waged a crackdown on Hamas, cutting salaries due to them from the Palestinian Authority and refusing to pay for electricity in the militant group’s power base in Gaza.

The split between the two groups — Fatah in the West Bank, Hamas in Gaza — has stood as one of the major obstacles in the peace process with Israel: Who, the Israelis ask, is their partner if the Palestinians are so deeply divided? That division has also been convenient for, and encouraged by, those on the Israeli right who do not want a peace deal.

But the Hamas document, which has been leaking for weeks, is less a change in Hamas’s fundamental beliefs than a challenge for the credibility of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank, as well as internationally.

The P.A. and Fatah are afraid that by this moderation, Hamas presents itself as the true representation of the Palestinian people

“Whether it’s a coincidence or it’s connected, I have one thing to say: The Palestinian leadership is afraid of this Hamas moderation,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Al-Azhar University-Gaza. “Because the P.A. and Fatah are afraid that by this moderation, Hamas presents itself as the true representation of the Palestinian people,” he said, referring to the Palestinian Authority.

The official release came at a telling time and place: Hamas officials, normally secretive, held several events on Monday in Doha, the capital of Qatar, an American ally that would play a crucial role in a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians, which Mr. Trump is pushing.

Mr. Abbas was scheduled to meet with Mr. Trump in Washington on Wednesday as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.

Experts on all sides of the complex struggle here say the new document is unlikely to represent any profound change in Hamas’s true position toward Israel. The group recently chose a hard-liner, Yehya Sinwar, as its new leader in Gaza, and it has still in no way recognized Israel or renounced violence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel quickly denounced the move. “Hamas’s document is a smoke screen,” he said in a statement. “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.”

To the world, our message is: Hamas is not radical. We are a pragmatic and civilized movement. We do not hate the Jews.

Hamas is still considered a terrorist group by much of the West, including the United States, a status that has led to its exclusion from wider international talks about the Palestinians’ future.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the group had to move beyond its original charter to achieve its goals. “The document gives us a chance to connect with the outside world,” he said. “To the world, our message is: Hamas is not radical. We are a pragmatic and civilized movement. We do not hate the Jews. We only fight who occupies our lands and kills our people.”

The document is a distillation of various public statements over the years signaling an attempt by Hamas to appear more pragmatic since it seized broad control of Gaza in 2007, after winning parliamentary elections a year earlier. Four years in the drafting, the document represents the consensus of Hamas’s top leadership.

The paper calls for Hamas to distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood in an effort to build stronger ties with Egypt, which controls the Gaza Strip’s southern border. It reiterates the Hamas leadership’s view that it is open to a Palestinian state along the borders established after the 1967 war, though it does not renounce future claims to Palestinian rule over what is now Israel. And the group specifically weakened language from its 1988 charter proclaiming Jews as enemies and comparing their views to Nazism, though the new document does not replace the original charter.

“Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish, but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine,” the new document states.

Mr. Abbas is increasingly unpopular at home, though he is the recognized conduit to the wider world, and the race for succession is clearly heating up. And while the well-trained Palestinian Authority security forces have kept a tight check on Hamas in the West Bank, Fatah always fears support or action waiting in the wings.

In Fatah, Marwan Barghouti, a popular figure among Palestinians who is serving five life sentences for murders in the second intifada, is leading a hunger strike in Israeli jails, now two weeks old, that some experts say is aimed at raising his credibility as a leader.

Mr. Trump has expressed a desire for a peace process that brings in Sunni Arab nations aligned against Shiite Iran, itself allied with Hamas, even as Hamas seeks to become closer to those same Sunni nations.

“The P.A. and Hamas compete to get embraced by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab states, but it seems the Arab embrace is not enough for two women,” said Fayez Abu Shamala, a Palestinian writer and political analyst close to Hamas.

The new document, however, reveals a greater pragmatism and willingness to engage with the outside world, he said. “Hamas will be an influential political body in the next phase.”

In Israel, which has fought three wars with Hamas since 2008, the document was greeted with skepticism.

“Not even one mind” will be changed in Israel, said Yossi Kuperwasser, a retired Israeli brigadier general who led the army’s research arm. “Nobody will be affected by this.”

Mr. Kuperwasser called it a “sugarcoating” of old positions that did not renounce Hamas’s original charter and did not recognize Israel’s right to exist. He did say, however, that it could be problematic for Mr. Abbas because the Palestinian Authority and Hamas platforms appear to be growing closer.

In the document, Hamas reiterates that Palestinians who fled or were expelled during wars with Israelis have the right to return — largely a nonstarter in successive peace negotiations with Israel. And it does not renounce violence; “resistance” continues to be a main source of strength and credibility.

“Hamas rejects any attempt to undermine the resistance and its arms. It also affirms the right of our people to develop the means and mechanisms of resistance,” the document says. “Hamas confirms that the resistance leadership can decide the level of resistance and can utilize a variety of the different tools and ways to administrate the conflict, without compromising the resistance.”

In distancing itself from the Muslim Brotherhood, analysts said, Hamas was likely to improve its often-strained relationship with Egypt, even if it was unlikely to open the border between Egypt and Gaza for trade.

“It’s a huge step for Hamas, but I think they should temper their expectations about the reaction from the Egyptians,” said Abdelrahman Ayyash, a researcher on Islamist movements who is based in Istanbul.

Under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt frequently accuses Hamas of aiding Islamist militants in attacks against Egyptian security forces in Sinai and Egypt’s main cities. Egyptian security officials and pro-government news outlets accuse Hamas, often without proof, of providing militants with training and guns.

At the same time, Egyptian intelligence has quietly renewed its relationship with Hamas in recent years, in an effort to secure Sinai and to bolster Egypt’s role as a mediator in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Before Mr. Abbas’s visit to Washington, the Egyptians are keen to establish their role as potential peacemakers. After a meeting between Mr. Sisi and Mr. Abbas in Cairo on Saturday, the Egyptian president’s office issued a statement that noted Egypt’s “pivotal role” and urged Palestinian unity as “essential to put an end to the plight of the Palestinian people.”

Follow Ian Fisher on Twitter @fisheri

Majd Al Waheidi contributed reporting from Gaza, and Declan Walsh from Cairo.

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