Full English translations of the Charters of Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine) of 1988 and (the current one) of 2017. Both are reproduced here so you can see the continuity and differences. The current version softens the religious rhetoric, removes the Muslim Brotherhood affiliation and makes more explicit the distinction between the Jews and the colonisers. The 1988 version calls Palestine an eternal part of the Islamic heritage (waqf). In the 2017 version Palestine is called an “Arab Islamic land” and “at the heart of the Arab and Islamic Ummah” and “with a special status”.
The 1988 version repeatedly condemned The Jews mainly as colonisers and “usurpers” (Article 15: “In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine”) but also through ancient religious injunctions, it also said (Article 31) “it is possible for the followers of the three religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism – to coexist in peace .. under the wing of Islam.” The 2017 version makes more explicit their distinction between Zionism and Jewish people (Article 16) “Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist Project not with the Jews because of their religion … it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity”.
In both versions Palestine is a single integral entity, with no recognition of “two states”. The 2017 version says (Article 2) “Palestine, which extends from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west and from Ras al-Naqurah in the north to Umm al-Rashrash in the south, is an integral territorial unit. It is the land and the home of the Palestinian people. The expulsion and banishment of the Palestinian people from their land and the establishment of the Zionist entity therein do not annul the right of the Palestinian people to their entire land and do not entrench any rights therein for the usurping Zionist entity.”
