The Palestinian Cairo Declaration was a declaration signed on 19 March 2005 by a broad spectrum of Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP and DFLP. The Cairo Declaration sought reinforcement of the status of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people through the participation of all forces and factions to it according to democratic principles. It implied a reform of the PLO, which would mean the inclusion of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Contents
Overview
The document was an early conciliation attempt with the aim to unite the Palestinian factions against the Israeli occupation, restructure the Palestine Liberation Organization and avoid further violent interactions between the Palestinian groups.
On 16 February 2005, the Israeli parliament had approved the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, which would drastically change the Israeli–Palestinian relations in Gaza.
The Declaration
The Declaration was signed on 19 March 2005 at the end of a 3-days meeting in Cairo. The document contains 6 points:
The first point recalls the Palestinian right to resist the Israeli occupation, the right to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the Palestinian right of return.
The second point formulates the conditions for a truce with Israel.
The third point warns against the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Judaization of Jerusalem.
The fourth point observes the necessity of completing the reform of Palestinian matters, including democracy, local and legislative elections and the introduction of an election system on the basis of proportional representation.
The fifth point states that the parties agreed to reform the PLO "in order to include all the Palestinian powers and factions, as the organization is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people". A committee would be made up to define the bases for the development.
The last point emphesizes "that dialogue is the sole means of interaction among all the factions, as a support to national unity and the unity of the Palestinian ranks". The use of weapons in internal disputes should be forbidden.
Aftermath
The implementation of the Declaration was urged in the ″Palestinian National Conciliation Document″, of 28 June 2006.
Following the Fatah–Hamas Battle of Gaza in June 2007, President Mahmoud Abbas threatened on 18 July 2007 to rescind the Cairo declaration. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) urged Abbas to refrain from annulling the Declaration.