The Document called for Palestinians to have an "independent state, with al-Quds al-Shareef (east Jerusalem) as its capital, on all territories occupied in 1967".
A revised "National Conciliation Document" was negotiated and signed by all factions in June 2006 without being made essential changes to the text.
The Document was written in the context of a looming Palestinian civil war, amidst increasing factional fighting following Hamas' electoral victory and its entry into Parliament and Government.
In the meantime, Israel's recently elected Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was seriously preparing his own "Convergence Plan", which envisioned a withdrawal of the occupation forces from some 90% of the West Bank, while annexing substantial parts including the large and expanded settlement blocs and East Jerusalem, with preservation of Israeli military control over the border zone at the Jordan River.
[7][6][8][9][10] Right after the formation of the Hamas-led PNA Government on 29 March 2006, President Abbas had started the building of a third security force under his own control to counter the various Hamas and Fatah militias.
Around March/April 2006, Abbas, backed by the US, dispatched a unit of 150 members of his Presidential Guard to take over the control of the Rafah Border Crossing in southern Gaza.
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.
Point 1 of the first version[17] reads: ″The Palestinian people in the homeland and in the Diaspora seek to liberate their land and to achieve their right in freedom, return and independence and to exercise their right in self-determination, including the right to establish their independent state with al-Quds al-Shareef as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967 and to secure the right of return for Palestinian refugees and to liberate all prisoners and detainees based on the historical right of our people on the land of the fathers and grandfathers and based on the UN Charter and the international law and international legitimacy.″ Point 2 recalls the 2005 Cairo Declaration about reform and reinforcement of the PLO as representative of "the Palestinian people wherever they are located".
Point 6 calls for "a national unity government on a basis that secures the participation of all parliament blocs, especially Fatah and Hamas ...".
Point 7 recognizes negotiations adhering to national goals as mentioned in the document, and falling within the jurisdiction of the PLO and the President of the Palestinian Authority.
Any agreement needs ratification by the newly elected National Council, or subjected to a general referendum to be held in the homeland and the Diaspora.
Point 16 calls for a restructure of the security system, and organize its tasks towards both defending the homeland and confronting the aggression and the occupation and to maintain law and order within the Palestinian society.
At the Conference, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who had committed himself to the Road map for peace, tried to press Hamas to endorse within 10 days the Prisoners' Document with its implicit recognition of Israel by calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with al-Quds al-Shareef (East Jerusalem) as its capital.
[19][4][23] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, at the same time, proceeded with the promotion of his "convergence plan", which he had presented before the Knesset on 4 May 2006.
The plan envisioned a partial unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and annexation of the large settlement blocs.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) chief Ahmed Jibril said that, should the referendum be held, Palestinians in exile should be allowed to vote.
A prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad, said that the referendum “confiscates the right of the coming generation to fighter for the liberation of the historic Palestine, occupied in 1948”.
[12] As Hamas also persisted in its refusal to endorse the Document in its present form, Abbas on 10 June issued a Presidential decree which called for a referendum on 26 July, to be held in the occupied Palestinian territories.
[12][28] Had Hamas at this point chosen to endorse the Document, and were it to become the government’s platform, then Abbas would have had a hard job to sell it to Israel in negotiations and be forced to adopt positions with which he disagreed.
On 29 June 2006, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on its website: ″The objective behind this document had nothing to do with advancing prospects for peace with Israel ...
Israel would solidify its control of large settlement blocs and unilaterally draw its border with the Palestinians, if there was no breakthrough in peace efforts were to come.
On 23 June 2006 US President George W. Bush hailed Olmert's plans, although he said that a negotiated agreement "best serves Israelis and Palestinians and the cause of peace.
"[24] The implications of the document were overshadowed by the abduction of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on June 25, during the 2006 Gaza cross-border raid in which Hamas militants entered Israel through hidden tunnels.
Under international pressure, President Abbas assured Israeli intelligence that efforts were underway to secure the release of Gilad.
On 11 September 2006, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh reached a tentative agreement to form a government of national unity.
[36] The accord states that the government will ″respect″ the agreements signed by the PLO, and support plans based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
The latter reiterates the mainpoints of the Prisoners’ Document, and for the first time, Hamas recognizes the peace agreements between the PLO and Israel.
[36] The Abbas-Haniyeh draft agreement met with objections from some Hamas leaders over the mentioning of the Arab Peace Initiative, which they saw as tantamount to recognition of Israel.
The opposition escalated when Abbas in a speech before the UN General Assembly on 21 September claimed that the program for a new government was strictly in line with the Quartet conditions (commitment to the principles of nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the Roadmap).