350 Hamas in Its Own Words

From the bulging “Missed Opportunities in Israel/Palestine” file, and in celebration of the “fragile ceasefire” in Gaza, this article by Khaled Hroub from the Journal of Palestinian Studies:

Since Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006, its political positions as presented in the Western media hark back to its 1988 charter, with almost no reference to its considerable evolution under the impact of political developments. The present article analyzes (with long verbatim extracts) three recent key Hamas documents: its fall 2005 electoral platform, its draft program for a coalition government, and its cabinet platform as presented on 27 March 2006. Analysis of the documents reveals not only a strong programmatic and, indeed, state building emphasis, but also considerable nuance in its positions with regard to resistance and a two-state solution. The article pays particular attention to the sectarian content of the documents, finding a progressive de-emphasis on religion in the three.
[full text]

It’s a poignant read when you consider that since Hroub did his research, an international policy of trying to starve Hamas out of power and (possibly…caveats apply) arming enemy militias against it has pretty nearly engulfed Gaza in civil war. If Hroub’s conclusions are correct, the world missed an opportunity to clear the way for Hamas to go mainstream after last year’s elections and thereby to avoid much bloodshed and suffering. I’d encourage readers to look at the full text. It’s spinach worth eating, if only because it quotes at length three important documents that either have not been translated into English or have not been widely diffused in English.

[tags]Israel, Palestine, Hamas[/tags]

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  1. […] This should not be that much of a surprise since Hamas has been saying very similar stuff since it was elected, if not before — see this post at the Skeptic and the excellent paper he links to. Nice to see this coming from Khaled Meshaal, though. […]

    Pingback by The Arabist » Hamas: Israel just fine and dandy — January 12, 2007 #

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