News Analysis: Hamas shifts policy in bid to ease isolation and internal division

Islamic Hamas movement has declared a new political document which abandoned its old covenant calling for establishing an Islamic state on the ruins of the state of Israel after the political changes in the region.

The new political document looked fairly flexible to end the regional isolation the movement has been suffering, according to analysts and observers.

The movement's leadership presented the document in the Qatari city of Doha on Sunday, which was an amendment of the 30-year-old covenant by late spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004.

The 42-provision document accurately defines the movement and its new strategic political goals and principles, which fit the dramatic political changes and conflicts developed in the region over the last decade, mainly the so-called Arab Spring in 2011.

Leaders of factions and political powers hailed the Hamas document, calling it "a substantial political development," while rival Fatah Party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the document is similar to Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) covenant.

Mohamed Ishtayeh, a senior official of Fatah Party in the West Bank, told Xinhua that the new political document "is welcomed because it is a development in the political thoughts and the political program of Hamas movement," adding that his party "always seeks to see Hamas part of the Palestinian political program."

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said it took the movement four years to prepare the document, which is a modification to the old covenant.

Analysts said Hamas has been completely isolated over the past few years, especially after the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world, which is why the movement decided to form a new pragmatic strategy to make it more open to the world.

Hamas was a militant group until it started its political life when it won the parliamentary elections held in the Palestinian territories in 2006. But some governments still list it as a terrorist organization.

Mohamed Daraghma, a political analyst and writer from the West Bank, said the new document could "create a positive influence."

"Hamas document and its political content related to the conflict with Israel could create a positive influence in the future when a permanent peace agreement is reached between Israel and the Palestinians, based on establishing an independent Palestinian state on 1967 territories," he said.

Mekhemer Abu Seda, a political science professor at al-Zahar University in Gaza, considered the document a strategic retreat, as the document clearly says it accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.

Palestinian observers considered the new Hamas political document a substantial development which showed significant flexibility in the movement's political positions in relative to its old covenant, which was stricter and more extreme.

According to Daraghma, the flexibility was clear when the document declared that Hamas accepts a Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, and that the armed struggle to liberate Palestine is part of the struggle but not the only means.

"One of the other significant changes in the document is that Hamas says the conflict is not based on religious background, and Hamas has nothing against the Jews all over the world," he noted.

The document defines Hamas, or the Islamic resistance movement, as a Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement. Its goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the "Zionist project."

"Its frame of reference is Islam, which determines its principles, objectives and means" without mentioning Muslim Brotherhood organization, which means "the movement is not anymore part or extension of the body," said Meshaal.

Abu Seda said Hamas has abandoned its old covenant which called for establishing an Islamic state on the ruins of the state of Israel after the political changes in the region.

"One of the severe criticism Hamas had faced over the past few years was that it belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed in several Arab countries. Therefore Hamas isolated itself from the group and considered itself a Palestinian liberation movement with an Islamic frame," he explained. Endit