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Hamas to Announce Amended Charter in Coming Weeks | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Speaker of Hamas Political bureau Khaled Mashaal. Reuters


Ramallah- Speaker of Hamas Political bureau Khaled Mashaal said on Wednesday that Hamas would be publishing a new charter in the “coming weeks,” which would reflect “Hamas’s thought and political legacy.”

Last month, senior Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said Hamas was working on “a clear political document” that would eliminate the rampant anti-Semitism currently found in the group’s charter.

Mashaal hailed the rise of Yahya Sinwar to become the group’s leader in the Gaza Strip as a success for “Hamas-style democracy.”

Speaking via live video stream to a conference organized by Zaytuna Center for Studies and Consultations in Beirut and entitled “The Issue of Palestine: Strategic Evaluation 2016 – Strategic Assessment 2017,” Mashaal said: “Sinwar’s victory in becoming head of the Hamas movement in Gaza is part of the Hamas-style democracy that we cherish and of which we are proud.”

Mashaal also emphasized, as have other senior Hamas officials since Sinwar’s election, that the group’s overall policies toward Israel will not be revised under the new leadership.

“There will be no change in the strategy of the resistance,” Mashaal said.

“Rather, there is a change of personalities that does not alter the strategies of Hamas, which are derived from its institutional leadership.”

He confirmed that the Palestinian cause has managed to remain despite attempts to obliterate it under all huge pressures and ordeals.

According to Mashaal, the Palestinian people have maintained the cause through sacrifices and through the leadership and commitment to the Palestinian constants.

Hamas’s original 1988 charter makes numerous anti-Semitic statements, including claims of Jewish world domination. The text also utilizes Islamic scripture to provide justification for attacking and killing Jewish people around the world.