Hamas’ decision to declare the UN 1947 Partition Plan for Palestine null and void is a surrender of a right that could hurt the Palestinian cause more than serve it.

To start with, whatever Hamas thinks of the partition plan is irrelevant. The legality of that resolution, adopted by the UN General Assembly more than 60 years ago, does not need Hamas’ or Israel’s seal of approval. It was voted and done with.

Now, instead of insisting on having the UN resolution as the basis for the delineation of the borders of the projected Palestinian state, Hamas’ outright rejection of it appears irresponsible and devoid of any positive value for the Palestinian people.

Having the partition plan implemented, even at this very late hour, is the best that can be offered to the Palestinians.

Israel fought against it and undermined it right from the beginning, while pretending to endorse it. Why, then, give Tel Aviv a new weapon against the Palestinians, at a time when the conditions are not favourable to the Palestinian cause?

It is unfortunate that UN Security Council Resolution 242, calling for Israel’s withdrawal from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 war, did not specifically refer to the partition plan. Therefore, the least Hamas should do now is to insist on resolutions 242 and 338 as the basis for its struggle to serve the national aspirations of the Palestinians.

As long as the borders of the projected Palestinian state are still a matter for negotiation, it behooves all Palestinian factions to refer to the 1947 partition plan and the 1967 Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 as the legal foundation for drawing these borders.

Short of that, there will be no ground rules for establishing the borders of the Palestinian state, and that could jeopardise the negotiating position of the Palestinian side.