The Hamas Covenant also known as Hamas Charter, refers to the Charter of the Islamic Resistance Movement(Hamas), issued on 18 August 1988, outlining the movement founding identity, stand and aims.[1]
The Charter identified Hamas as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and declares its members to be Muslims who "fear God and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors." The charter states that "our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious" and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories,[2] and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.[3][4] The charter also states that Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they do not block Hamas's efforts.[5] The Charter adds that "renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion" of Islam.[1]
In 2010 Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal stated that the Charter is "a piece of history and no longer relevant, but cannot be changed for internal reasons."[6] Hamas have moved away from their charter since they decided to go for political office.[7] In 2009 interviews with the BBC, Tony Blair claimed that Hamas does not accept the existence of Israel and continues to pursue their objectives through terror and violence; Sir Jeremy Greenstock however argued that they have not adopted their charter since they won the Palestinian legislative election, 2006 as part of their political program.[8] Instead they have moved to a more secular stance.[7] In 2008, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, stated that Hamas would agree to accept a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, and to offer a long-term truce with Israel.[9]
Content[edit]
Article 1 describes the Movement's program as "Islam".[16]
Article 2 of Hamas' Charter defines Hamas as a "universal movement" and "one of the branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine".[12][16][17][18]
Article 3 the Movement consists of "Muslims who have given their allegiance to Allah".[16]
Article 5 Demonstrates its Salafist roots and connections to the Muslim brotherhood. [16]
Article 6 Hamas is uniquely Palestinian,[19] and "strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine"[12][16]
Article 7 describes Hamas as "one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders" and links the movement to the followers of the religious and nationalist hero Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.[16][18]
Article 8 The Hamas document reiterates the Muslim Brotherhood's slogan of "Allah is its goal, the Prophet is the model, the Qur'an its constitution, jihad its path, and death for the sake of Allah its most sublime belief."[12][16]
Article 9 adapts Muslim Brotherhood's vision to connect the Palestinian crisis with the Islamic solution and advocates "fighting against the false, defeating it and vanquishing it so that justice could prevail".[16]
Article 11 Palestine is sacred (waqf) for all Muslims for all time, and it cannot be relinquished by anyone.[16]
Article 12 affirms that "Nationalism, from the point of view of the Islamic Resistance Movement, is part of the religious creed" .[16]
Article 13 There is no negotiated settlement possible. Jihad is the only answer.[16]
Article 14 The liberation of Palestine is the personal duty of every Palestinian.[16]
Article 15 "The day that enemies usurp part of Muslim land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim". It states the history of crusades into Muslim lands and says the "Palestinian problem is a religious problem".[16]
Article 20 Calls for action "by the people as a single body" against "a vicious enemy which acts in a way similar to Nazism, making no differentiation between man and woman, between children and old people".[16]
Article 22 Makes sweeping claims about Jewish influence and power. [16][20]
Article 28 Conspiracy indictment against "Israel, Judaism and Jews".[16][20]
Article 32 Hamas condemns as co-plotters the imperialistic powers.[20] References The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[16][21]
Statements about Israel[edit]
The preamble states: ″Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it″
Anti-Semitism claims[edit]
According to Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, "The Hamas credo is not just anti-Israel, but profoundly anti-Semitic with racism at its core. The Hamas Charter reads like a modern-day 'Mein Kampf.'"
According to the charter, Jewish people "have only negative traits and are presented as planning to take over the world."[22] The charter claims that the Jews deserve Gods/Allahs enmity and wrath because they received the Scriptures but violated its sacred texts, disbelieved the signs of Allah, and slew their own prophets.[23]
"The Day of Judgement will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews"(related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).[24]
The charter contains references to antisemitic canards, such as the assertion that through shrewd manipulation of imperial countries and secret societies, Jews were behind a wide range of events and disasters going as far back in history as the French Revolution. The document also quotes Islamic religious texts to provide justification for fighting against and killing the Jews, without distinction of whether they are in Israel or elsewhere.[25]
It presents the Arab-Israeli conflict as an inherently irreconcilable struggle between Jews and Muslims, and Judaism and Islam, adding that the only way to engage in this struggle between "truth and falsehood" is through Islam and by means of jihad, until victory or martyrdom.
