Israel says Hamas trying to fool the world with new policy paper
Responding to a leaked document in which the terror organization supposedly softens its stance on the Jewish state, accepting a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders without recognizing Israel, Netanyahu spokesperson says the group is 'attempting to fool the world.'
The group will drop its long-standing call for Israel's destruction as well as its association with the Muslim Brotherhood in a new policy document to be issued on Monday, Gulf Arab sources said.
However, the move, whether true or not, has been dismissed in Israel. "Hamas is attempting to fool the world but it will not succeed," said David Keyes, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"They build terror tunnels and have launched thousands upon thousands of missiles at Israeli civilians," he said. "This is the real Hamas."
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan responded ahead of the document’s publications, also dismissing it as a charade designed with the sole aim of “gaining international legitimacy. In practice, Hamas continues all the time to advance terror attacks and wildly incites for the murder of Israelis. It continues to refuse to recognize the right of Israel to exists,” Erdan said in a statement on Monday evening.
On Sunday, a Hamas political document that was leaked revealed plans to soften the organization’s charter to recognize a Palestinian state on 1967 borders—but still without recognizing Israel.
“It is possible to agree to a state within the 1967 borders, but it does not necessarily include recognition of Israel and does not mean that there is a relinquishment of historic Palestine,” the new charter states.
“The liberation of Palestine is the duty of the Palestinian people, and the resistance to the occupation is a legitimate right, and armed resistance is a strategic choice. Our right to develop and manage the means of resistance is included in the framework of managing the conflict and not at the expense of the principle of resistance.”
It remained unclear whether the document replaces or changes in any way Hamas's 1988 charter, which calls for Israel's destruction and is the Islamist group's covenant.
A Hamas spokesman in Qatar declined to comment. There was no immediate comment from Egypt and Gulf Arab states.
