Sources within the Hamas movement said leaders from inside and outside the Gaza Strip have opened an internal debate on the group’s political future under the new reality created by Israel’s two-year war that followed the October 7, 2023 attack.
According to Hamas sources who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, a paper submitted by several of the group’s leaders included a proposal to “establish a political party similar to existing political groups that continue to represent a national Islamic political approach, presenting itself as a body capable of taking part in political, economic, social and general public life.”
Participation in the Palestine Liberation Organization
The sources said the paper also calls for “a comprehensive Palestinian reconciliation that secures this project, including participation in the Palestine Liberation Organization while working to reorganize and restructure it through a broad national agreement that allows for the inclusion of all parties, and restores the Palestinian political system’s relevance.”
“It also urges greater openness to Arab and Islamic states and the international community by opening political channels with all these parties, and transforming into an important political actor that ensures the movement’s survival away from its weapons.”
The sources said the proposal has already been submitted to the political bureau, the Shura Council, the supreme leadership council that runs the movement, and other bodies inside Hamas.
They added that the ideas form part of a broader review launched after the war, covering Hamas’s political positions and its assessment of its internal and external realities following the assassinations of its leaders and the obligations imposed by the Sharm el-Sheikh ceasefire agreement reached in October.
Balancing weapons and politics
Responding to a question from Asharq Al-Awsat about whether the initiative reflects acceptance of or concern over disarmament, one of the proposal’s sponsors, a senior Hamas figure based abroad, said it came “after a relatively stable political period inside the movement following the ceasefire agreement.”
The official said the proposal “is not essentially about the weapons of the resistance. It is more about the need to adapt to the political shifts in the region in a way that prevents the elimination of Hamas as a Palestinian movement that has waged many struggles, especially after Israel’s military machine failed to achieve that goal.”
Discussing how Hamas could form a political party while keeping its weapons, the senior source said the movement “is open to discussing the issue of its weapons. This has been under discussion from the beginning of the ceasefire until now with Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, and even indirectly with the United States. It may be raised again in expected meetings with United States officials in the coming period.”
But the source stressed that any arrangement “must be through a Palestinian national agreement on the weapons of the resistance, with no Israeli role and no permission for the international force mentioned in the United Nations Security Council resolution to impose itself by force to disarm or apply other steps.”
“That could lead to an undesirable and dangerous state of chaos that the movement does not want. Hamas seeks consensus on the next steps under the ceasefire agreement, whether at the national level or with the mediators, the United States and the international community.”
Gradual shift to political work
According to the sources, the proposal by several Hamas leaders aims for a gradual shift toward political activity “to ensure that Palestinians maintain their principles under the changes imposed by the new reality taking shape in the region after the Gaza war.”
The sources noted that some voices inside Hamas argued during the leadership-level debate that the movement “must think outside the box, and that weapons alone, including rockets and tunnels, cannot guarantee the movement’s future.”
They pointed out that the war cost Hamas much of its popular and social support, and that “there must be a balanced vision that preserves the movement while maintaining its general principles, and affirms that resistance, whether armed or popular, is a right for Palestinians.”
The sources said advocates of the new ideas stressed the need for “a political approach more open to the transformations in the region, which now link peace with development and reconstruction, a principle included in the ceasefire agreement.”
“They warned that the recent United States draft resolution submitted to the Security Council and adopted by a majority poses risks to the entire Palestinian cause by attempting to impose dangerous realities such as separating Gaza from the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.”
Hamas has faced pressure since the latest ceasefire talks, including from some of its backers, to accept disarmament, surrender governance in Gaza and end the state of open conflict with Israel.
Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat this could pave the way for a comprehensive political agreement in the region that would lay the foundation for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
According to the sources, “the Hamas leadership and Palestinian factions aligned with it do not favor prolonged, open conflict, but say all this was imposed on them by continuing Israeli military actions even after the ceasefire. The factions want to reach a long-term truce, which they hope to achieve through the current agreement, although they were aiming for a better deal.”
