Hamas's move to rebrand itself as "more moderate" is an object lesson in the most reductive game of semantics. As The National reported yesterday, the internationally blacklisted group unveiled a revamped version of its mission statement, retracting overt statements that called for the destruction of Israel while insisting it would never recognise "the Zionist entity".
The move shows that Hamas has caved in to its internal crisis. The group may have dropped its links with the Muslim Brotherhood, but only because it is a losing association, not because it doesn’t share in its premise. No matter how much Hamas distances itself from its outlawed neighbours, their essence is one. Hamas has an ideological agenda that it seeks to implement if given the chance. And its ideology is, in short, incompatible with any self-sustaining form of freedom given its lack of understanding of the religious references it claims are needed as part of its national agenda.
That is why the group’s assertion that it has unveiled a “more reasonable Hamas” is subjective at best. At least one of its officials was honest about it. Mahmoud Zahar, the co-founder of Hamas, said the new charter was “a tool for the future but it does not mean we’re changing our principles”.
Even if Hamas, which is regarded as a terror group by the EU, the United States and others, begins to implement elements of the programme, such as accepting a Palestinian state along the lines of the 1967 borders, its wording on these changes remains ambiguous and indicative that it will probably resort to violence and unholy alliances to get what it wants in the long run.
If there is anything history has shown, it is that affiliations with the Muslim Brotherhood cannot be shaken off as easily as Hamas purports it will do.
Simply omitting references to the Muslim Brotherhood in its new charter doesn’t change the fact that these are long-standing ties and all they entail – whether it is arms, ideology or tunnels – can’t be undone. Rewording won’t offer the Palestinians any solution if the ideological premise remains the same.
