THE draft political programme of the Hamas-led national coalition government that was distributed to the representatives of the parliamentary blocs and forces during the recent dialogue sessions has just been published.
It declares: ‘To remain loyal to the martyrs’ blood and our people’s sacrifices; to protect the inalienable basic rights of our Palestinian people, consolidate their national unity, build their overall edifice, carry out the constitutional duties of the government; to achieve the principle of democratic participation for enhancing the rights and interests of our Palestinian people, protecting them and bolstering their steadfastness; and to fulfil their national rights by removing the occupation, safeguarding the right to repatriation and resistance, and establishing an independent fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, we will adopt the following programme:
‘1. To remove the occupation and establish a fully sovereign independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
‘2. To abide by the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their land and property, for this is an inalienable individual and general right.
‘3. To liberate the prisoners; to confront the measures of the occupation on the ground, particularly the judaization of Jerusalem, the annexation of the Jordan Valley, the expansion of settlements, the dismemberment of the West Bank, the racist separation wall and the practices it entails; to deal with the collective sanctions; and to reject blackmail with respect to the sums owed to the Palestinian Authority or their usurpation.
‘4. The resistance in all its forms is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people to end the occupation and regain their inalienable national rights.
‘5. If the State of Israel recognises our people and their national rights, abides by its commitments, and seriously offers to implement them and offers guarantees to withdraw completely from the Palestinian territories it occupied in 1967, including east Jerusalem, one can then discuss the negotiations mechanism.
‘6. To undertake a comprehensive reform on the domestic level, establish the institutions of the people and society on democratic bases that will safeguard justice, equality and power-sharing; to exercise political pluralism and enforce the law; and to secure the separation of powers, to ensure the independence of the judiciary, and safeguard public and private freedoms.
‘7. To build our national institutions on national and professional bases, without unilateral measures and party considerations.
‘8. The government will deal with the reality that emerged from the previous agreements between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation state, and the government has the right to reconsider on the basis of respect for international law and in implementation of its provisions in a manner that safeguards the Palestinian people’s rights and interests.
‘9. To safeguard and protect the independent Palestinian national decision-making.
‘10. To emphasise our Arab and Islamic strategic environment and reactivate the support of our Arab and Islamic nation for our people and their just cause in all fields.
‘11. To establish good, positive, cordial and balanced relations with the Arab and Islamic countries and all countries in the world on the basis of mutual respect.’
Meanwhile, the Hamas Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniya has said that the next Palestinian government will be one that reinforces the rule of law and the independency of the judiciary.
In a press conference held after his visit to the Lawyers Association in the city of Gaza, Haniya said that the new government will be formed within the coming days after concluding the consultations among all the parliamentary blocs.
He noted that the government’s make-up will be mostly from outside the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).
He said: ‘We are very keen on the participation of the brothers in the Fatah movement and the rest of the national and Islamic forces in this government, so that we may come up with a coalition government that establishes political partnership and fully shoulders the responsibilities towards the Palestinian people and cause, particularly at this specific time.
‘I can say that the consultations are in their final stages. I hope that the outcome will be encouraging, both for us and our Palestinian people.
‘Out of our keenness on the separation of powers, this government’s make-up will be mainly from outside the PLC.
‘The government we will form will be a mixture of politicians, technocrats, independents and experts, because this is a multi-faceted government.’
Also Hamas Political Bureau member Izzat al-Rishaq affirmed last Saturday that his movement’s present visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has special significance, spurred by the distinguished role of the kingdom in the international and regional arenas as it is considered one of the main countries that support the Palestinian people’s rights.
The movement’s delegation led by the head of its Political Bureau, Khaled Meshaal, landed at the kingdom on Friday on a three-day visit and was warmly received by the kingdom’s foreign affairs minister, Prince Sa’ud al-Faysal.
‘The Hamas delegation’s visit to the kingdom gains special importance as it precedes the Arab summit in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, scheduled for late this month.
‘We shall discuss with Saudi officials different issues concerning the Palestinian question and acquaint ourselves with their views and ideas,’ Al-Rishaq added.
He described the delegation’s talks with Al-Faysal as important and very positive as the movement acquainted the Saudi officials with its plan in administering the Palestinian affairs and the efforts being exerted to form the next PNA (Palestinian National Authority) government.
Al-Rishaq expressed his movement’s gratitude to the Saudi government’s stand in continuing the financial and political support for the Palestinian people in spite of the pressures exerted on it by the US administration to dissuade it from doing so.
‘Without talking numbers, we have received assurances of big financial support from the government of the Kingdom as Saudi officials expressed full understanding of the movement’s stands, which per se constitutes a big blow to the US and Israeli efforts to collectively punish our people and drain financial assistance extended to them,’ Al-Rishaq elaborated.
He noted that the delegation’s next tour will include Yemen, Kuwait and Bahrain next week.
