Arab Sources: Hamas On UN Bid – OpEd

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By Simone Daud

Hamas has issued a statement today regarding Palestine’s UN bid. Its interest for me is in the way Hamas describes what it thinks is the Palestinian national consensus. It seems that Hamas’ only substantive objection to going to the UN is its own lack of involvement in the bid and the emphasis by Abbas that the appeal to the UN is part of the negotiations process.

My translation follows. I have changed typographic features of the statement to highlight Hamas’ notion of national consensus.

On the application by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah for membership of Palestine as a state in the United Nations

Proceeding from the national political program that has been agreed upon by all the Palestinian national force:

  • the establishment of a Palestinian state with real sovereignty on the lines of the fourth of Huzairan/June 1967,
  • Jerusalem as its capital
  • the return of the refugees
  • the dismantling of settlements
  • without recognizing the Zionist entity.

We in the Hamas movement support any effort or political maneuvers that afford international support and solidarity for

  • the right of our people to liberation and self determination
  • the establishment of a fully sovereign state
  • the achievement of Palestinian national rights
  • and that result in the condemnation of the Zionist entity, the rejector of our rights, and reveal its true outlook.

But political maneuvers cannot be at the expense of any of our national rights.

Unfortunately, the application by the brothers in the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah for membership of Palestine as a state in the United Nations has a unilateral character that is far removed from the Palestinian national consensus. Further, it does not come from within the context of a coherent agreed upon national liberationist strategy. It is, however, an extension of the [peace] process and its perspective of insistance on the ideology of negotiations is far removed from the choice of resistance and “owning the power cards” [position of strength].

We emphasize our firm conviction that resistance in its essential sense, and peripherally all forms of political mass struggle, is the true way to liberate our land, to gain our rights, and to establish a Palestinian state with genuine sovereignty.

The urgent need of our people is the actual liberation of our land, so as to establish upon it a truly independent sovereign state of Palestine. [The urgency] is not for continued discussion about a state that does not exist on the ground. [The urgency] is not for the continued preoccupation with symbolic steps with limited impact and [associated] mixed results that are confounded with some risks.

In this occasion we appeal to our brothers in the leadership of the Authority in Ramallah, the brothers in the Fateh movement, and all the Palestinian forces and factions, for dialogue and an in depth political review. With the aim of achieving a strategy that is Palestinian, patriotic, struggle-like, and agreed upon nationally. We will muster for its foundations all of “our power cards” [advantages, positions of strength], principally resistance, to be truly ready to accomplish the right to self-determination, and liberate our land and our national rights from the Zionist occupation, with God’s permission.

Islamic Resistance Movement-Hamas
Media Office
Saturday, 19 Shawwal 1432 H
Approved September 17 / September 2011

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Mondoweiss is a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective. Mondoweiss is maintained by Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz. Weiss lives in New York state and Horowitz lives in New York City.

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