Dr. Ido Zelkovitz
May 2017
Hamas’ new policy document does not cancel or supersede the organization’s
charter. Rather, its goal is to enable Hamas to maintain control over the Gaza Strip
and to improve relations with Sunni-Arab states. In its new document, Hamas is
expected to present itself as an Islamist-nationalist organization, agree to the
concept of a temporary Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, and avoid using
the anti-Semitic language that is included in its charter. However, it will still reject
Israel’s right to exist and support an armed struggle against it.
Introduction
The publishing of Hamas’ new policy document follows a long and complex process of
elections to the Hamas institutions, which recently brought new blood into Hamas leadership
in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Israeli prisons, and the Palestinian diaspora.
The new document is a policy plan, and not a new charter, which introduces Hamas in an
updated manner to the Palestinian public and the international community. The document
outlines Hamas’ policy approaches, in light of geo-political developments in the Middle East
and the organization’s changing needs. It sidelines the Hamas Charter, but it definitely does
not cancel or replace it.
From an Israeli standpoint, the document is not a game-changer. Despite an evident effort
by Hamas to amend its political rhetoric and to align it with the modern era, Hamas sticks
with its traditional positions regarding Israel. It refuses to acknowledge Israel as a legitimate
state and denies its right to exist. Hamas continues to regard armed struggle, the jihad, as
the right way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the establishment of a
Palestinian state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. Until that happens,
Hamas is willing to accept short-term solutions, which can ease the lives of Palestinians.
Over the last decade, Hamas shifted from being an Islamist opposition group to establishing
itself as the ruling party in the Gaza Strip. This led to a reassessment of policies and
approaches. Hamas is currently not limited by the thinking of a specific spiritual leader, as it
was in the days of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Therefore, it seeks religious guidance in the
Muslim Brotherhood and in the rulings of senior religious scholars like Sheikh Yusuf al-
Qaradawi.
Dr. Ido Zelkovitz is a policy fellow at Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, Head of the
Middle Eastern Studies Division at Yezreel Valley College, and a research fellow at the Ezri Center for Iran
and Persian Gulf Studies at Haifa University. His last book, Students and Resistance in Palestine: Books,
Guns and Politics, was published in 2015 by Routledge.
