Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh has outlined the movement’s vision for the Palestinian national project and the challenges facing the Palestinian cause.

In a webinar organised by the Al-Zaytouna Centre for Research and Consultations, Haniyeh said that the region has recently gone through some developments, including the cancellation of the general elections by the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s President Mahmoud Abbas.

Haniyeh explained that the PA’s unilateral move had caused a “serious national dilemma” and pushed back the endeavours for national unity.

The Palestinian general elections were called off by the PA’s president Mahmoud Abba last April. He blamed the Israeli occupation for not allowing the vote to proceed in Jerusalem.

 “No Palestinian agrees to hold in the elections without Jerusalem. We declared that Jerusalem is a national battle, and the vote must be held there. We have many methods and means to make it a battle of challenge and will,” Haniyeh commented.

The top Hamas official listed other developments that greatly impacted the Palestinian cause: the Sword of Jerusalem Battle,  the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and normalisation through which the Israeli occupation might penetrate the region. “Some of these changes have positive consequences, but others pose challenges for the Palestinians.”

Haniyeh explained that the bases of the national project are clear: the right to return of refugees to the homes, towns and villages Palestinians were expelled from in 1948 by Zionist gangs, the liberation of the occupied Palestinian territories, and the establishment of the sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Hamas chief outlined the movement’s vision to restructure the Palestinian Home and achieve unity.

The first step in the vision is to restore the image and weight of the national project.

Haniyeh emphasised that the Palestinian people are now engaged in a state of national liberation, not establishing an “authority under the occupation”, stressing that the Palestinians have one enemy only: the Israeli occupation. “Any other definition [of the status quo] will get the Palestinian engaged in political unrests.”

The Hamas chief highlighted that the reformation of the Palestinian leadership and engaging all the factions in this process is the second element in Hamas’s vision to rearrange the Palestinian Home.

The third one is proposing and agreeing on a political programme for the status quo based on the consensual points between the Palestinian factions, in parallel with endeavours to bring the Palestinian cause back on top of the Arab and Islamic Ummah’s agenda.

Haniyeh emphasised that Hamas is prepared to participate in reconstructing the Palestinian Liberation Organisation as a preliminary step to forming the Palestinian National Council. He also called for redefining the key responsibilities of the Palestinian Authority for the time being.

Haniyeh listed the strengths of the Palestinian cause: the Palestinian rights, the surrounding political geography, the strategic environment supporting Palestine, and the resistance and armed struggle.

According to the Hamas official, no one argues against the Palestinian rights among the free people of the world.

“The Palestinian cause is still the central issue for the Ummah,” Haniyeh added.

Noting that Hamas is prepared to get involved in popular resistance in the West Bank, the Hamas chief confirmed that the resistance is able to defend the Palestinian people against Israeli crimes and violations

The Palestinian liberation project requires the participation of all factions. Therefore, neither Hamas nor Fatah alone can take responsibility for liberating Palestine, Haniyeh added.

The top Hamas official also listed five major challenges that have badly affected the Palestinian cause: the Oslo Accords that involved recognition of the Israeli occupation, the minor role played by the Palestinian leadership institutions, understating the option of resistance as a strategic option, and normalising ties with the Israeli occupation by some Arab countries.

The Hamas chief explained that the Palestinian national project went through a state of disarray in the aftermath of Oslo accords, and the goals, means, limits and the function of the PA have all been disturbed, and all of this has had serious repercussions in the Palestinian arena.

“The Palestinian Authority’s security collaboration with the Israeli occupation has opened the door for some Arab countries to normalise ties with the Israeli occupation, and the talk about the occupation becoming an observer member of the African Union could have only become possible after the Oslo Agreement and other normalizing agreements,” he concluded.