Call for removal of Hamas’ Political wing from the UK’s Proscribed List of Terrorist Bodies
- Target:
- UK Government Home Secretary
- Region:
- United Kingdom
- Website:
- www.onepalestine.land
[This petition is supported by Tony Greenstein, anti-Zionist campaigner]
As bombs rain on Gaza, we need an urgent public debate about whether Hamas are terrorists or freedom fighters. If the latter then they deserve life, not death. It is essential to point out that they do not want to kill all Jews; their 2017 makes clear that their conflict is with the Zionist project, not with the Jews because of their religion. Whilst their aim is to reverse the occupation of all Palestine which has been going on for over 78 years, their policies have been revised several times since they were formed, most recently in 2017, when they agreed to a truce if Israel were to withdraw to the 1967 borders. Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus. They may seek the dismantling of Israel, but that does not mean the death of Israelis. This is outlined in Hamas “A Document of General Principles and Policies” of May 2017, which is at https://palwatch.org/storage/documents/hamas%20new%20policy%20document%20010517.pdf
The UK Gov justifies the bombing campaign of Gaza on account of the Qassam Brigades' attacks of Oct 7th - but Hamas' designation as a terrorist body undermines its status as the democratically elected government of Palestine. The Oct 7th attack has been misreported: see www.redressonline.com/2023/11/israel-revises-7-october-death-toll-of-1400-israelis-dead-to-1200-plus-200-palestinian-fighters-without-declaring-that-most-deaths-were-at-hands-of-israel . More than a quarter of British undergraduates consider the Hamas attacks of October 7 to be “defensible”, according to a new survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute. Britain's Muslim police body (NAMP) defends Hamas and labels the IDF "a terrorist group".
Hamas is fighting for equal rights for its people and is obliged, like any government, to defend them. Even former Labour Leader Tony Blair said in 2017 that “We were wrong to boycott Hamas after its election win.”
We British negotiated with Sinn Fein and that resulted in peace in Northern Ireland, at the same time as we were condemning their military wing, the Provisional IRA. When the IRA bombed Birmingham and Manchester, did our UK Government send the RAF and British Army to level Londonderry? Palestine is no different. And if we exclude a political partner, we cannot hope for peace. Now that the UK recognises the state of Palestine, we must ensure we are able to deal with Hamas as well as Fatah in the future, if we are to embrace ALL of the Palestinian people. The British Government should return to its position before 2021, when only the Qassam Brigades were banned.
On 11th January 2024 we delivered the first tranche of 1,410 copies of this open letter to 10 Downing Street. Please note names on this petition were NOT shared with the Home Secretary without the signers express written permission; around 70 agreed to this.
This petition is promoted by Pete Gregson, chair of One Democratic Palestine; read more about Hamas at their website at www.onepalestine.land/hamas
His recent London speech about this petition is at www.tiny.cc/hamastalk
This petition supports the Riverways Law de-proscription bid of 2025 (see it at https://hamascase.com)
Dear Home Secretary,
We, the undersigned, are calling for the removal of the Hamas political wing from the Proscribed list. Whilst the military wing was proscribed by Blair’s Government of 2001, the political wing was only proscribed by your predecessor Priti Patel five years ago, following her secret meetings whilst on holiday in Israel, for which she lost her position. It was passed in parliament without a vote. It is incumbent upon you to to help stop the ongoing slow genocide of Palestinians by reversing that decision,
Furthermore, Palestine, as a sovereign state, needs a government: the elected political wing of Hamas is part of that government. As such they should not be proscribed; international law guarantees Palestinians the right to resist occupation.
Section 4 of the Terrorism Act 2000 provides “that the organisation or any person affected by a proscription can submit a signed, written application to the Home Secretary requesting that they consider whether a specified organisation should be removed from the list of proscribed organisations”. We are all affected by the proscription due to the loss of our freedom of speech on Hamas, so our signature on this letter cannot be used against us.
With continuing death and destruction in Gaza, we think we urgently need to re-open communications with the Hamas political party, as they are the democratically elected leaders of the Gaza people. Britain regards the occupation of Palestinian land by Israel as contrary to international law, yet by proscribing Hamas, we exclude those who are suffering from conversations about resolution. As we created Israel, the responsibility to resolve the occupation falls squarely upon us.
Hamas’ most recent communiqué of 2017 underlines their commitment to abide by the democratic will of a new Palestine – one that includes their oppressors, on the understanding that they cease their Zionist aspirations. They may seek an Islamic state, but they declare they will abide with the democratic preference of a majority- in an electorate that would include those identifying as Jews. No Jew would be forced to leave in a Palestine run by Hamas. Muslim lands have always- and still do - welcome Jews, as “people of the book”.
In 2006 the Palestinians appointed Hamas to lead them; please note that the Palestine Authority rejects Hamas’ annual calls for fresh elections. Furthermore, it is especially important we can communicate with Hamas, now that we recognise the state of Palestine. (Note that if Sinn Fein had been unable to communicate with our Government, then the troubles in Norther Ireland might still be ongoing.) If the situation in Gaza continues as it is at present, there may well be no Palestinians left there.
I declare that because we so recently proscribed Hamas as a political party, we leave Gazans without a voice. That decision must be reversed.
Yours sincerely,
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The Call for removal of Hamas’ Political wing from the UK’s Proscribed List of Terrorist Bodies petition to UK Government Home Secretary was written by One Democratic Palestine and is in the category Government at GoPetition.