Palestinian Prisoners' Document

The Prisoners' Document, officially the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners was written in May 2006 by Palestinian prisoners, who were being held in an Israeli jail. The five prisoners who took part in writing the Document were respectively affiliated with Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

The Document called for an independent Palestinian state "with al-Quds al-Shareef (also known as east Jerusalem) as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967", and upholding the Palestinian right of return, both based on the UN Charter and international law. The Document also called for a reform of the PLO to enhance its representativity through the participation of all forces and factions, and for the election of a new Palestinian National Council before the end of 2006.

President Mahmoud Abbas presented an ultimatum to Hamas to endorse the Document, which some (like the BBC) consider to "implicitly recognize Israel ... or at least [imply] acceptance of Israel if it withdraws to its 1967 borders",^[1] such recognition of "Israel's right to exist in peace and security" being one of the key demands of the road map for peace. He threatened to call a national referendum on the Prisoner's Document if Hamas would refuse. Abbas issued the referendum after Hamas had rejected his demands. A revised "National Conciliation Document" was negotiated and signed by all factions in June 2006 without being made essential changes to the text. The referendum did not take place.

Israel denounced the Prisoners' Document, stating that it did not meet the requirements of the Roadmap most notably that it did not explicitly recognize Israel. Israel also took issue with the document's insistence on the right of return and the right to resist the occupation ″by various means″.