By Jason Shvili, JNS
At no point did Hamas explicitly promise to deradicalize or disarm, nor did the terror group agree to international supervision as prescribed by the Trump Mideast peace plan.
Grisly videos on social media have captured Hamas goons grabbing, blindfolding and executing suspected Israel collaborators on Gaza City streets, urged on by a cheering rabble.
Rather than Hamas moving swiftly to disarm, deradicalize and set up an alternative government, as the group supposedly agreed just the other week, Gaza is cascading into a chaotic thugocracy. Hamas shows no sign of embracing U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan and every sign of feverishly restoring its reign of terror.
In truth, however, Hamas never really agreed to fully implement Trump’s peace plan. The terrorist group’s “yes, but” response to Trump’s plan deceptively sidestepped the matters of deradicalizing, disarming and setting up an alternative government, as the plan calls for.
No wonder: It’s highly unlikely Hamas will ever agree to deradicalization, because it would require renouncing the sacred Islamic imperative, an unthinkable apostasy, that demands they kill Jewish “infidels” and conquer the Jewish state.
Hamas is also specifically committed by its charter to armed resistance against Jews and the Israeli “occupation” and never to accepting a negotiated peace. Thus, it’s inconceivable that Hamas will agree to the peace plan’s requirement for disarmament and demilitarization.
Because Hamas rejects governance by any force other than itself, let alone by any foreign entity, the group has moved to reseize control of Gaza’s streets and populace by restoring vicious terror tactics against its citizens, including violently crushing all opposition groups.
Very simply, it seems that Hamas doesn’t want to follow the plan, nor do they believe they will have to.
Nonetheless, Trump recently warned Hamas that if they continue executing civilians in Gaza, “We will have no choice but to go in and kill them.” Indeed, it seems that military force, most likely by Israel, will be necessary sooner rather than later to implement Trump’s vision.
Hamas never really agreed to fully implement Trump’s peace plan. Rather, in its official statement, the terrorist group declared that it would release the hostages and “entrust the administration of the Gaza Strip to an independent Palestinian administration.” At no point in their statement did Hamas explicitly promise to deradicalize or disarm, nor did they agree to international supervision of the new technocratic administration as prescribed by the Trump plan. In short, Hamas’s statement was a deception, designed to make it appear that they accepted the Trump plan in full, but in reality, they did not.
It’s inconceivable that Hamas will reject its radical, Islamist ideology. Indeed, the Hamas charter frames as a divine commandment waging a jihad to slaughter Jews. It references the Prophet Muhammad’s words, “The day of judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.” The charter also forbids sharing “Palestine” with “infidels,” especially Jews.
How could Hamas disarm, while believing that only armed resistance can liberate “Palestine”? In fact, the Hamas charter specifically states, “There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad,” clearly meaning the violent variety.
Indeed, despite “signing on” to the Trump peace plan, Hamas leaders firmly reject the disarmament demand. On Oct. 11, for example, a Hamas official told AFP that “The proposed weapons handover is out of the question and not negotiable.” Another Hamas official, Bassam Khalaf, said that “The possibility of disarming Hamas is beyond impossible,” adding that the terrorist group “categorically rejects even discussing the issue of disarmament in any negotiation.”
The Trump plan can’t move forward until Gaza is demilitarized. On the ground in Gaza, there is, of course, zero indication of Hamas giving up its weapons. Instead, it is slaughtering its opponents with machine guns. Yet, the international stabilization force called for in the peace plan cannot be deployed in Gaza until the terrorist group is disarmed. Indeed, the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have reportedly agreed that any multinational presence must operate only after Gaza is fully demilitarized, to prevent their soldiers from walking into an active insurgency. But since Hamas appears unwilling to disarm, the only option seems to be Trump unleashing Israel to enforce the requirement.
Hamas rejects governance of Gaza by anyone but itself. For this reason, the terrorist group has ruled out agreeing to the provisions in Trump’s plan calling for a technocratic administration under international supervision by a “board of peace” that would be chaired by the U.S. president himself. Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk, for example, has declared, “We will never accept anyone who is not Palestinian to control the Palestinians.”
Developments in Gaza indicate that Hamas has every intention of retaining control over the territory. The group has deployed 7,000 of its terrorists to “cleanse Gaza of outlaws and collaborators,” that is, anyone who opposes Hamas rule. This bloody campaign, which Hamas has branded “purification before liberation,” has involved public executions in Gaza City, often in front of cheering crowds. Videos circulating on social media appear to show the executions, which an Israeli military official told Fox News are “Hamas’s deliberate attempt to show the killing publicly and reestablish its rule by terrorizing civilians.”
Only by force will Hamas yield to Trump’s peace plan. Peace came in World War II only when the Allied Powers decisively defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The Allies persuaded the two Axis Powers through force that they could no longer achieve their goals and that peace was their only option. In short, first there was victory, then there was peace.
In contrast, Hamas has not yet been decisively defeated in Gaza. Despite suffering immeasurable destruction and thousands of casualties, the terrorist group remains intact and determined, still able to assert control in Gaza and still able to threaten Israel.
Fortunately, Trump seems receptive to allowing Israel to finish the job of destroying Hamas should the terrorist group fail to cooperate. He told CNN that Israel could return to battle “as soon as I say the word.”
Since Hamas refuses to deradicalize, disarm or relinquish power on its own accord, Trump’s best option to ensure implementation of his plan is allowing Israel to finish the job, to continue vanquishing Hamas soundly, demonstrating painfully to them and the Palestinians at large that their only tolerable option is peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state.
Originally published by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).
