Hamas deal precipitates showdown over guns
RAMALLAH: As the Palestinian Authority attempts this week to reassert control over the Gaza Strip, the refusal by Hamas to give up its guns is feeding doubts that a unity deal can take root.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah is leading a parade of senior officials arriving from the West Bank to take over ministries that have been operated by Hamas since 2007, when the militant Islamic group violently chased the Palestinian Authority out of Gaza.
He was scheduled to hold a formal cabinet meeting in Gaza City today, with a bevy of Egyptian generals and United Nations diplomats on hand to demonstrate support for the reunification effort.
By leaving security issues for later, the two sides managed to agree last month on reviving a joint government they formed that crumbled 10 years ago. But they also paved the way for a bitter showdown over international demands that Hamas surrender its weapons and recognise Israel’s right to exist as part of a peace agreement.
“Unless it’s real disarmament it’s not viable, it’s not sustainable and it won’t be acceptable to Israelis or Americans,” said Daniel Shapiro, the former US ambassador to Israel.
In the past, Israel has fought against any role in the Palestinian government for Hamas, which achieved international notoriety in the 1990s by launching suicide bomb attacks in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US and the EU. Steps taken include temporarily halting the monthly transfer of some US$100 million in tax revenue which Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Netanyahu sees the deal as a Hamas effort to gain international legitimacy without changing its aim to destroy Israel, Israeli officials say.
Mr Netanyahu’s office declined to comment directly on the Palestinian Authority’s return to Gaza or discuss how Israel may respond to Hamas’s renewed involvement with the Palestinian Authority.
Both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party and Egyptian officials mediating the reconciliation talks with Hamas have soft-pedalled the disarmament issue, saying the goal is limited to unifying security forces in the West Bank and Gaza under a single command.
Mr Abbas has packaged his policy under the slogan, “One government, one law, one gun”, refusing to spell out whether that means confiscation of Hamas weapons.
“No one will dare to demand this,” said Tarek Fahmy, assistant director of the National Center for Middle East Studies in Cairo. “For now, the weapons must remain in the hands of the people.”
Mussa Abu Marzuk, one of the most senior Hamas leaders living in exile outside Gaza, said the key to reaching a deal with Fatah was the recognition that it was pointless to demand that Hamas disarm because it would never agree to such terms.
Hamas accepted the deal and invited Mr Hamdallah to take control of government functions in Gaza after a series of punishing sanctions Mr Abbas imposed. They included cutting money the Palestinian Authority was paying to Israel for Gaza’s electricity, limiting power for residents of
the impoverished strip to about three hours a day in the middle of stifling summer heat. Mr Abbas reduced salaries and pension payments for Gazans employed by the authority, feeding popular discontent with the Hamas leadership.
Also helping to arrange the agreement were Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah elSisi, who wants Hamas’ cooperation in deterring attacks on Egyptian soldiers in the northern Sinai peninsula bordering Gaza. Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian security in chief in Gaza and an Abbas rival, helped broker the deal with the new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who grew up in the same refugee camp with him.
The deal has drawn scepticism from Palestinian officials who argue Hamas has no intention of adopting Mr Abbas’ commitment to making peace with Israel and only accepted the agreement to escape the burden of governing Gaza.