Thread by @MujammaHaraket

*On the zionist occupation’s prisons as a meeting ground for various Palestinian factions: a short thread*
(image from Tarek Hamoud, “Evaluating the Structural Political Developments in the Islamic Palestinian Resistance Movement as a Ruling Authority Between 2006-2017”, 2023)

In its earliest stages, the zionist occupation’s prisons served as a crucial setting for fostering interaction between Hamas and other Palestinian factions. The origins of Hamas’s concept of national partnership are generally believed to have emerged within zionist prisons during

the late 1980s and early 1990s, while the shifts triggered by the Oslo Accords may have acted as a catalyst that transformed this idea into practical political cooperation with other Palestinian forces. In an interview on 22 October 2020 with Tarek Hamoud, Saleh al-Arouri stated

that zionist prisons had laid the initial groundwork for a national partnership between Hamas and other Palestinian groups, noting that “the shared circumstances of all Palestinian prisoners led to a deeper understanding of the other.” Al-Arouri elaborated that “inside the

[zionist occupation's] prison, one perceives things up close and realises that the commonalities and similarities are substantial, whereas the imagined differences and divides are quite narrow.” Likewise, in an interview on 18 November 2020, Ghazi Hamad reiterated that the prison

environment had played a significant role in narrowing the ideological divides between Hamas and other factions, though he emphasised that its influence at that point remained limited. Sami Abu Zuhri, in an interview with Hamad 21 October 2020, also affirmed that the evolution of

Hamas’s relations with other factions began within the zionist occupation's prisons, arguing that the prison environment provided an initial space for coexistence among Palestinian groups following a period in which they had refused to recognise one another. Abu Zuhri further

noted that this phase of coexistence during the First Intifada later paved the way for the post-Oslo national partnership between Hamas and other Palestinian factions. In a similar vein, Husam Badran, interviewed by Hamad on 1 June 2022, recalled the harsh conditions faced by

Hamas prisoners in the late 1980s. He explained that “during that period, Hamas detainees were prevented by PLO prisoners from forming their own organisational wing inside Israeli prisons, as the PLO did not recognise any movement outside its affiliated factions.” Badran added

that prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) shielded Hamas detainees from the hostility of Fatah and other PLO factions, leading the small group of Hamas prisoners at the time to join the PFLP’s prison wing. He concluded that this joint PFLP–Hamas

prison wing constituted Hamas’s first experience of national partnership.
Scholarly literature on the Palestinian national movement frequently addresses the question of prisoners’ participation in political decision-making (see: JM Norman, "Beyond Hunger Strikes: The Palestinian

Prisoners' Movement and Everyday Resistance Journal of Resistance Studies," vol. 6., 2020). In the case of Hamas, the movement’s prisoners play a distinctive role in the decision-making process through a symbolic rather than bureaucratic relationship, as explained by Maher Salah

in an interview with Hamad on 26 October 2020. The approximately 1,800–2,000 Hamas prisoners held in zionist prisons have established a representative framework known as the Supreme Leadership Body for Hamas Prisoners (see: A. Abu Amer, 'How Hamas Prisoners Elect Leaders Behind

Bars,' "Al Monitor," 2017; Available at: . This body typically consists of between eleven and seventeen members, organized across four regional divisions: Gaza prisoners, along with prisoners from the northern, central, and southern areas of the West Bankal-monitor.com/originals/2017…

(see: A. Issa, "Dawr Alhayyat Alqiadiat Li'asraa Hamas Fi Sujun Alaihtilal Bitaeziz Makanat Al'asraa 2005-2017" [The role of the leadership body of Hamas prisoners in strengthening the status of the prisoners 2005-2017]., 2018).
Every two years, each prison elects roughly

seventeen representatives on a proportional basis to form a General Conference of approximately 350 members. This General Conference then elects the Hamas Prisoners’ Shura Council, composed of fifty-one members (ibid.). The Shura Council of the Hamas prisoners subsequently elects

both the head and deputy head of the Supreme Leadership Body for Hamas Prisoners, while the remainder of the body’s leadership board is composed of elected representatives from each prison (ibid.).
Although no formal bureaucratic link exists between the Supreme Leadership Body

for Hamas Prisoners and the Executive Committee of Hamas, the prisoners’ leadership plays a meaningful role in key decision-making moments—such as the reconciliation efforts between Fatah and Hamas, the 2011 prisoner exchange agreement, participation in the 2006 Palestinian

elections, and the formulation of the 2017 Document of General Principles and Policies, which outlined the movement’s strategic orientation (ibid.).
In this regard, Saleh al-Arouri noted in an interview on 22 October 2020 that Hamas prisoners played a pivotal role in drafting

what became known as the Prisoners’ Document of 2006, developed through dialogue with prisoners representing other Palestinian factions. The document provided a conceptual framework addressing major national issues and served as a roadmap for overcoming the political impasse that

followed Hamas’s victory in the 2006 elections (see: "National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners - Document by Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Jails," United Nations, 2006; ).un.org/unispal/docume…

The Prisoners’ Document gained wide acceptance among leaders of the Palestinian factions and became known as the National Conciliation Document, which continues to serve as a reference point in most national dialogue efforts among Palestinian groups (see: A. Mallouh, "Wathiqat

Al'asraa Radun Ealaa Tahmish Dawrihim Alsiyasii Waealaa Eajz Alqadat Ean Alwafiq" [The prisoners’ document is a response to the marginalisation of their political role and the leaders’ inability to agree], 2007). As emphasized by Sami Abu Zuhri in an interview on 21 October 2020,

the Prisoners’ Document remains the foundational basis upon which Hamas recognizes and upholds the principle of national partnership with Fatah.
During the 1990s, the prisoners’ leadership within Hamas has held a primarily symbolic role in the movement’s decision-making process.

However, this role expanded significantly following the establishment of Hamas’s tripartite leadership structure in 2009. From that point onward, both the head of the Supreme Leadership Body for Hamas Prisoners and its deputy became members of the Central Shura Council.

Later, in 2015, the president of the Supreme Leadership Body for Hamas Prisoners was also appointed as a member of the Executive Committee.

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