Hamas signs onto PA letter sent to US settling for state in ’67 borders

The letter, sent to the White House, was a summary of September’s conference of Palestinian organizations.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has sent a letter to the U.S. administration signed by all Palestinian terror factions, including Hamas, saying that they agree to work peacefully for a Palestinian state only within the pre-June 4, 1967 borders, Kan News reported Saturday night.

Citing the Palestinian Amad news site, which published a copy of the letter, the report said that it was sent to Hady Amr, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs.

The letter was based on the official announcement made after a September 2020 conference held by the heads of Palestinian organizations in which they agreed to hold presidential elections in the PA for the first time since 2005 and legislative elections for the first time since 2006.

All the factions present, including Hamas, signed onto five pledges which, if meant seriously, would be a significant reversal of several positions for the terrorist organization that overthrew the PA and grabbed control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. The commitments were to:

1. The standards of international law.
2. A Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with its capital, East Jerusalem.
3. The PLO as an umbrella political organization and as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
4. The principle of transferring power peacefully through elections.
5. Popular resistance (peacefully).

The Hamas charter was partially rewritten in 2017 to accept the idea of a Palestinian state only in the territory Israel liberated in the Six Day War of 1967, which includes all of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem. However, it did not accept the 1993 Oslo Accords which envisions two states for two peoples.

When its then-leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, announced the revised version in 2017, he appeared to back away from it immediately, saying, “Hamas rejects any idea except liberating the home soil entirely and completely.”

The organization also continued to deny any recognition of Israel and kept its insistence on the return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel. This demand is considered a non-starter by Jewish parties across the political spectrum.

Hamas has indiscriminately launched tens of thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel since it began ruling Gaza, causing Israel to invade three times in limited battles to deter terrorism. Its leaders have continuously called for jihad, or holy war, against the Jewish State, and attempts are regularly made to cross the border and carry out terrorist attacks.

Its war crimes have been detailed in full and sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague by Israeli NGO Shurat HaDin, demanding that its judiciary hold Hamas and its operatives responsible for their illegal actions, just as the ICC has declared it will do regarding Israel.