Israel should put Fatah-Hamas government to the test
The establishment of a Palestinian government culminates a decade of changes the Hamas movement is undergoing, offering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an opportunity to force it into changing its fanatical charter.
In December 1998, the Central Committee of the Palestinian National Council convened in Gaza to vote to change those articles of the Palestinian National Covenant that conflicted with the Oslo Accord. The committee was convened at the demand of then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who conditioned the continuation of negotiations and the implementation of the agreements on the covenant being amended officially.
The covenant defined the objective of the PLO as bringing about the end of the Zionist entity through military means. One of the articles that Israel demanded be changed was Article 22, in which the Zionist movement was defined as a political movement associated with imperialism, fascist in its methods, aggressive and racist in nature. Article 33, the final article of the covenant, states: "This Charter shall not be amended save by [vote of] a majority of two-thirds of the total membership of the National Congress of the Palestine Liberation Organization [taken] at a special session convened for that purpose."
The session convened in Gaza in the presence of then-US President Bill Clinton. Most members of the Palestinian National Council, including those defined as “master terrorists,” were allowed by Israel to enter the Gaza Strip for the occasion. Attendees included airline hijacker Leila Khaled and Abu Abbas (Muhammad Zaidan), head of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), who oversaw the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and the murder of an American citizen, Leon Klinghoffer.
Netanyahu, who was elected prime minister in 1996, was not satisfied with the letter that late PLO leader Yasser Arafat had sent to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stating that the PLO recognizes the State of Israel and that the articles of the Palestinian Covenant are “inoperative and no longer valid.” He demanded a legal vote by the Palestinian National Council to amend the covenant. Yet even this symbolic vote, which took place in April of that year, was not enough for Netanyahu, who insisted that the amendment be approved by a two-thirds majority. The reason was obvious. Before he could implement the agreements, which he so vehemently opposed as chairman of the opposition, he had to have a significant public achievement that would somewhat allay the concerns of his supporters, who opposed the agreement. It’s worth noting that, even now, some right-wing circles in Israel claim that the aforementioned articles are still in effect. There was no secret ballot, they say, so the entire vote was invalid.
