Editing Hamas (section)

== Charter and policy documents ==

===1988 charter===
{{main|1988 Hamas charter}}{{See also|Calls for the destruction of Israel}}
Hamas published its charter in August 1988, wherein it defined itself as a chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its desire to establish "an Islamic state throughout Palestine".{{sfn|Kabahā|2014|p=324}} The foundational document was written by a single individual, an "old guard" member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza isolated from the outside world, and it was made public without going through the usual prior consultation, revision or consensus process, which Hamas leaders regretted in later years.<ref>{{harvnb|Hroub|2006|p=33}}: "The Charter was written in early 1988 by one individual and was made public without appropriate general Hamas consultation, revision or consensus, to the regret of Hamas's leaders in later years. The author of the Charter was one of the 'old guard' of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, completely cut off from the outside world. All kinds of confusions and conflations between Judaism and Zionism found their way into the Charter, to the disservice of Hamas ever since, as this document has managed to brand it with charges of 'anti-Semitism' and a naïve world-view' Hamas leaders and spokespeople have rarely referred to the Charter or quoted from it, evidence that it has come to be seen as a burden rather than an intellectual platform that embraces the movement's principles."</ref> It was then signed on 18 August 1988. It [[Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany|compares]] [[Israeli war crimes|Israeli attacks on civilians]] to that by Nazi Germany.<ref>Ronni Shaked, 'Ethos of Conflict of the Palestinian Society,' in Keren Sharvit, Eran Halperin (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ysdyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA142 ''A Social Psychology Perspective on The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Celebrating the Legacy of Daniel Bar-Tal,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320153323/https://books.google.com/books?id=ysdyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA142#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=20 March 2024 }} Springer, 2016 Volume 2 pp. 133–49 [142].</ref> The charter also claims all of historical Palestine<ref>{{harvnb|Hroub|2006b|p=6}}: cited Michael Schulz, "Hamas Between Sharia Rule and Demo-Islam", in Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer, Joakim Öjendal (eds.),[https://books.google.com/books?id=cTXekQIjsLgC&pg=PA202 ''Globalization and Challenges to Building Peace''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320153822/https://books.google.co.ma/books?id=cTXekQIjsLgC&pg=PA202&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=20 March 2024 }}, pp. 195–201: 'Hamas continues to be characterized with reference to its 1988 charter drawn up less than a year after the movement was established in direct response to the outbreak of the third intifada and when its raison d'être was armed resistance to the occupation. Yet when its election and post-election documents are compared to the charter, it becomes clear that what is being promoted is a profondly different organization</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hroub |first=Khaled |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-XsW4-8VVJ4C&pg=PA31 |title=Hamas |date=2009 |publisher=The Other Press |isbn=978-983-9541-64-9 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320153823/https://books.google.com/books?id=-XsW4-8VVJ4C&pg=PA31 |archive-date=20 March 2024|quote=The non-Zionist Jew is one who belongs to the Jewish culture, whether as a believer in the Jewish faith or simply by accident of birth, but...(who) takes no part in aggressive actions against our land and our nation. ... Hamas will not adopt a hostile position in practice against anyone because of his ideas or his creed but will adopt such a position if those ideas and creed are translated into hostile or damaging actions against our people.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Picco |first1=Giandomenico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhKsDwAAQBAJ |title=The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution |last2=Rifkind |first2=Gabrielle |date=2013 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-0857723437 |pages=47–48 |author1-link=Giandomenico Picco |author2-link=Gabrielle Rifkind |access-date=16 January 2021 |archive-date=20 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320153822/https://books.google.com/books?id=BhKsDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Robinson|2004|p=130}}: 'The second major component in Palestine's sanctity, according to Hamas, is its designation as a {{transliteration|ar|[[waqf]]}} by the Caliph [[Omar|'Umar b. al-Khattab]]. When the Muslim armies conquered Palestine in the year 638, the Hamas Charter says, the Caliph 'Umar b. al-Khattab decided not to divide the conquered land among the victorious soldiers, but to establish it as a {{transliteration|ar|waqf}}, belonging to the entire Muslim nation until the day of resurrection.'</ref>{{sfn|Litvak|1998|p=153}}<ref name="Weimann">Gabriel Weimann,[[iarchive:terroroninternet00weim/page/82|''Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, the New Challenges'']], [[United States Institute of Peace|US Institute of Peace Press]], 2006 p. 82.</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=April 2025|reason=I'm not sure what the context is for including all of these citations, so this could be a superfluous (ironically) tag... could also be bundled.}} but promises religious coexistence under Islam's rule.<ref>Jim Zanotti, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ajKhf9y93nkC&pg=PA15 ''Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320153823/https://books.google.com/books?id=ajKhf9y93nkC&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=20 March 2024 }}, Diane Publishing, 2011 p. 15.</ref><ref>Roberts [https://books.google.com/books?id=xveCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 p. 68] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320153901/https://books.google.com/books?id=xveCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |date=20 March 2024 }}:'The Charter condemns world Zionism and the efforts to isolate Palestine, defines the mission of the organization, and locates that mission within Palestinian, Arab and Islamic elements. It does not condemn the West or non-Muslims, but does condemn aggression against the Palestinian people, arguing for a defensive jihad. It also calls for fraternal relations with the other Palestinian nationalist groups'.</ref> Article 6 states that the movement's aim is to "raise the banner of [[Allah]] over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned".<ref name="Yale">{{cite web |date=18 August 1988 |title=Hamas Covenant 1988: The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp |access-date=15 February 2009 |work=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |publisher=Yale Law School |archive-date=17 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117074547/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Mishal|Sela|2006|p=178}} The charter rejects a [[two-state solution]], stating that [[Israeli Palestinian conflict|the conflict]] cannot be resolved "except through [[jihad]]".

Many scholars have pointed out that both the 1988 Hamas's charter and the [[Likud]] party platform sought full control of the land, thus denouncing the two-state solution.{{sfn|Beinart|2012|p=219, n.53}}<ref name="Emmett"/><ref name="Chomsky2010"/>

===2017 charter===
{{main|2017 Hamas charter}}
In May 2017, Hamas published a document titled "[[A Document of General Principles and Policies]]". While this policy document was much shorter than the 1988 charter, and Hamas leaders stated that it did not replace the 1988 charter,<ref name=no-softened>{{cite web |last=Al-Mughrabi |first=Nidal |date=10 May 2017 |title=Leading Hamas official says no softened stance toward Israel |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/world/leading-hamas-official-says-no-softened-stance-toward-israel-idUSKBN1862O4/ |website=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> it covers some of the same topics and is referred to as the "2017 charter".<ref name="Hroub" /> It accepted a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, [[#Recognition of Israel|without recognizing Israel]], which is seen by many as being consistent with a [[two-state solution]],<ref name="Jihad" /><ref name="Baconi-108" /> while others state that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former [[Mandatory Palestine]].<ref name="Alsoos2"/> The charter also argued that armed resistance to occupation is supported by international law.<ref name="Hroub" /><ref>Jean-François Legrain: ''Hamas according to Hamas: A reading of its Document of General Principles''. In: Shahram Akbarzadeh (Hrsg.): ''Routledge Handbook of Political Islam'', Routledge, London 2020, pp. 79–90.</ref><ref name="Alsoos2"/><ref name="charter2017">{{cite web |title=Hamas in 2017: The document in full |url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-charter-1637794876 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024100126/http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-charter-1637794876 |archive-date=24 October 2017 |access-date=6 January 2018 |website=MiddleEastEye}}</ref> Hamas has described these changes as adaptation within a specific context, as opposed to abandonment of its principles.{{sfn|Seurat|2022|p=18}}

While the [[1988 Hamas charter]] was widely described as [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]],<ref name="Hamed2023" /> Hamas's 2017 charter removed the antisemitic language and said Hamas's struggle was with [[Zionism|Zionists]], not Jews.{{sfn|Seurat|2019|p=17}}<ref name="Haaretz20170503" /><ref name="Spitka2023" /><ref name="AlJazeera20170506" /> Some sources maintain its condemnation of Zionists is antisemitic:<ref name="hoffman"/><ref name="Spitka2023">{{cite book|title=National and International Civilian Protection Strategies in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict|author=Timea Spitka|year=2023|publisher=[[Springer International Publishing]]|pages=88–89}}</ref> it describes Zionism as the enemy of all Muslims and a danger to international security, what author J.S. Spoerl in 2020 has disqualified as "hardly (...) a serious repudiation of anti-Semitism".<ref name="Spoerl 2020 pp. 210–244">{{cite journal | last=Spoerl | first=Joseph S. | title=Parallels between Nazi and Islamist Anti-Semitism | journal=Jewish Political Studies Review | publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs | volume=31 | issue=1/2 | year=2020 | issn=0792-335X | jstor=26870795 | pages=210–244 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26870795 | access-date=27 January 2024 | quote=Strictly speaking, the Hamas Covenant of 1988 focused its anti-Semitic language on Zionists, for example, describing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as the blueprint for the Zionist project (Article 32) and accusing the Zionists of aiming to "annihilate Islam" (Article 28). The May 2017 "Document" continues in this vein, albeit in somewhat less florid language, asserting that "the Zionist project does not target the Palestinian people alone; it is the enemy of the Arabic and Islamic Ummah posing a grave threat to its security and interests. It is also hostile to the Ummah's aspirations for unity, renaissance, and liberation and has been the major source of its troubles. The Zionist project also poses a danger to international security and peace and to mankind...." (#15). As in the 1988 Covenant, the 2017 "Document" merely takes all the classical tropes of anti-Semitism and focuses them on Zionism, noting that "it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity" (#16). In effect, Hamas is saying that it is at war with all Jews except those who are anti-Zionist, thus it is not anti-Semitic. This can hardly be regarded as a serious repudiation of anti-Semitism. | archive-date=16 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116061115/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26870795 | url-status=live }}</ref> Hroub, though not responding directly, disagrees, writing that the 2017 document shows that Hamas is stressing the nationalist/resistance aspects of its purpose, providing a "clear assertion of the right to a national liberation struggle on the basis of international law."<ref name="Hroub">{{Cite journal |last=Hroub |first=Khaled |date=2017 |title=A Newer Hamas? The Revised Charter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26378710 |journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]] |volume=46 |issue=4 (184) |pages=100–111 |doi=10.1525/jps.2017.46.4.100 |jstor=26378710 |issn=0377-919X |quote=In a similar vein, Hamas's description of itself appears in a section titled "The Movement" that is couched in language quite different from the 1988 charter. Here, Hamas stresses the nationalist and resistance aspects of its purpose far more than the religious and pan-Islamic ones...Framing the struggle in nationalist terms is not only a novel element of the 2017 document but it is repeatedly emphasized and clearly articulated...Hamas makes plain that the "conflict is with the Zionist project, not with the Jews because of their religion...The new document offers a definitive framing of the struggle against Zionism and Israel as having nothing to do with religion...In "The Position toward Occupation and Political Solutions," the document articulates a stance that reflects the movement's internal consensus on the two-state solution, that is, the creation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines...The "Resistance and Liberation" portion of the new document is also quite different in its language from the 1988 charter and other past statements. Here, there is a clear assertion of the right to a national liberation struggle on the basis of international law."}}</ref>