1. The announcement by representatives of Hamas and Fatah that agreement had been reached on this document has been perceived by some as being "a step in the right direction" in terms of efforts to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel. In reality, it constitutes a step in the wrong direction.

2. The objective behind this document had nothing to do with advancing prospects for peace with Israel. The goal was to address internal Palestinian interests, promote a Palestinian consensus, and avoid a decline into confrontation between the various Palestinian factions.

3. The document fails to meet the requirements of the Roadmap and the three basic conditions of the Quartet: recognition of Israel's right to exist, ending terrorism, and adherence to all existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

4. Explicitly supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state within all the territories "occupied since 1967" does not mean recognition of Israel.

• The document makes no mention of explicitly recognizing Israel and Israel's right to exist, and also no mention is made of ending the conflict with Israel.
• The document further insists on full implementation of the Palestinian demands regarding the "right of return" of all Palestinian refugees to their homes [inside Israel]. This in itself constitutes a formula for the ultimate destruction of Israel and stands in contradiction to the two-state solution, whereby the Palestinian state would become the home for Palestinian refugees.
• The formula used by the document goes hand-in-hand with the Hamas declarations that after a full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories "occupied since 1967", Hamas would be prepared at most for a lengthy ceasefire, but not for recognition of Israel.

5. The document expresses a clear-cut support for continued terrorism.

• Not only does it not talk about ending terrorism, but it stresses the "right of resistance by all means."
• The document talks about "concentrating" such "resistance" within the territories. In other words, while the majority of terrorist attacks would take place within the West Bank and Gaza, at least some terrorist attacks could and would take place within Israel itself.
• Moreover, the document makes no distinction between attacks against civilians and attacks against military targets.

6. While stating that decisions of the Arab League and the international community ("Arab legitimacy and resolutions of international legitimacy") would be the basis for the Palestinian political action plan, the document makes clear that it is referring only to decisions that would serve Palestinian rights. This would leave the Palestinian government the right to pick and choose which resolutions it accepts and which it rejects. Hamas has insisted time and again that it rejects resolutions that would promote peace with Israel as well as Palestinian Authority agreements with Israel.

7.  If the intention of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah faction was to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas, this document does the opposite.

• It distances itself from Abbas' position regarding recognition of Israel, an end to terrorism and adherence to existing Palestinian Authority Agreements with Israel, by in effect adopting the Hamas line on these issues.
• It also creates the means by which Hamas would ultimately take over the PLO itself (by becoming the dominant group in the PNC) and would make any agreements and steps dependent upon the approval of the PNC or the (Hamas-dominated) Palestinian Legislative Council. 
• A referendum, according to the document, cannot by declared by the President but can only be legislated by the Palestinian Legislative Council.
• The establishment of a "National Unity Government" as envisaged by the document would lead to only one thing - perpetuation of a Hamas dominated Government.

8. The document prevents Mahmoud Abbas from moving forward, by stating that the document is the sole basis for political action. Indeed, the text which was announced by Hamas and Fatah is even worse than the original draft. Fatah has moved towards accepting the positions of Hamas, rather than vice versa. This is a setback for efforts to advance the movement towards peace.