Hamas wants to come in from the cold
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (L) and Hamas PM in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar wave during a rally marking the 30th anniversary of the group’s founding in Gaza City, on December 14, 2017. Photo Mohammed Abed/AFP
Hamas Tells Abbas It Is Ready to Hand Over Its Weapons to the Palestinian Authority
By Jewish Press
January 05, 2018
Hamas has informed the Palestinian Authority of its willingness to lay down its arms in return for being accepted into the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Al-Hayat reported on Friday. The terror group also stressed that its position on national reconciliation was irreversible, and that it was going to attend the coming meeting of the Palestinian Central Council (PCC).
Hamas appeared to be re-positioning itself to join the Palestinian Authority political system in preparation for the post-American phase of negotiations with Israel. A Hamas leader in Ramallah told Al-Hayat that the group intention was to participate in the January 14 PCC meeting, because Hamas wants to enter the political system and participate in the institutions of the PLO and the PA. Also, according to the same Hamas man, the group wishes to share the political stage in resisting US pressure to impose political solutions on the Arabs in the disputed territories.
Hamas spokesman Hossam Badran said in a statement Thursday that the movement received an official invitation to participate in the meetings of the Central Council, and they are studying it with interest. Meanwhile, Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat said that the decisions reached at that meeting will be “fateful.”
Al-Hayat cites “Gaza reliable Palestinian leadership sources” who revealed that Hamas’ vision was to “place the weapon of the resistance under the command of the leadership framework (of the organization in which it participates) or the executive committee, should it be allowed to joins it,” and that the movement had sent a message to that effect to Chairman Abbas.
Regarding reconciliation, the sources quoted Hamas as confirming that it had abandoned the idea of division forever. They said Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip Yahya al-Senwar repeatedly stressed to PA representatives that “the strategic choice of the movement, made by the politburo months ago, is to move to reconciliation, with the vision of promoting the Palestinian national project – especially since it appreciates that the Palestinian cause is facing great dangers regionally and internationally.”
A spokeswoman for Hamas told Al-Hayat
“The old guard in the movement refuses to make further concessions without being met by steps from Fatah, the PA and Abbas, but the new guard, represented by al-Senwar and deputy head of the politburo Saleh al-Arouri and others, is determined not to return to the division … [T]he movement will not return to control the government ministries and crossings, even if things continue as they are.”
Hamas: General principles and objectives document in full
Hamas said prepared to place its weapons under PLO’s control if it can join
After months of stalled talks with rival Fatah, Gaza-based terror group now bidding to become part of main Palestinian leadership, Al-Hayat reports
By TOI STAFF
January 05, 2018
Hamas has tentatively agreed to hand over its weapons to the Fatah-led Palestine Liberation Organization, provided it can become part of the PLO and of the overall Palestinian government, according to a report in the Al-Hayat newspaper Friday. There was no confirmation of the report.
The London-based Arabic newspaper reported that a senior Hamas official in Ramallah said that the terror group would agree to disarm if it can gain PLO representation.
The paper, which cited unnamed sources in Gaza, said Hamas was prepared to place its weaponry under PLO control, provided it had a key role in that leadership, and had clarified this position to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas has a large arsenal of guns and rockets [L]. The range, but not the accuracy, of the rockets has been increased.
Al-Hayat linked the new approach to US President Donald Trump’s December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that it said set the stage for what the terrorist organization may view as a new bid to become part of the internationally recognized Palestinian political system.
Only a month ago Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar said that the Palestinian reconciliation process was failing over the issue of the future of the terror group’s armed forces.
In an official statement Thursday, Hamas spokesman Husam Badran said his organization had received an invitation to attend the PLO Central Council scheduled for January 14. At the same time, the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Saeb Erekat, said that decisions made by the council will be “fateful.”
The Friday Al-Hayat report seems at odds with a recent statement made by Hamas deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri, who told Al Jazeera that his movement had no intention of handing over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority. Israeli news outlet Walla speculated that this may highlight a dispute between the local heads of Hamas and those governing the terror group from outside Gaza.
Hamas’s new deputy leader Salah al-Arouri (seated L) and Fatah’s Azzam al-Ahmad (seated R) sign a reconciliation deal in Cairo on October 12, 2017. Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP
According to the Al-Hayat report, the move to join the PLO is a strategic change led by Sinwar, who is determined to bring about a reconciliation deal with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. His decision was reinforced by Trump’s announcement, and he reportedly now sees unity as essential for the future of the Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority is accountable to the PLO Executive Committee. The PLO is made up of several factions, with Fatah, led by Abbas, as the largest group. Neither Hamas nor Islamic Jihad are currently members of either the PLO or the PA.
An Egyptian-brokered agreement in early October originally set a December 1 deadline for the terror group to fully transfer power in the Gaza Strip back to the Palestinian Authority, but that deadline was repeatedly extended.
Since the start of the latest round of reconciliation talks between the rival Palestinian factions — several others have failed in the past — the question over the fate of Hamas’s 25,000-strong military wing has been a thorny issue between the sides.
In October, Sinwar first floated the idea of unifying Hamas’s armed forces with Fatah’s under the PLO umbrella.
“As a nation, we are still in the throes of our national liberation efforts, and we cannot surrender our weapons,” he was quoted as saying by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an, before adding: “Our weapons must be under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization.”
But he conditioned the move on Fatah returning to its old strategy of armed struggle against Israel.
The PA announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to restore payments for electricity in Gaza, six months after halting them.
The electricity payments have been a key issue in ongoing efforts at reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah, but they have yet to take effect.
Hamas claimed earlier in December that it had handed over control of all government ministries, but Fatah’s top negotiator later said “obstacles” remained.
Hamas, which seeks the destruction of Israel*, has fought three wars with Israel since seizing power from Fatah in the enclave in 2007.
Dov Lieber and AFP contributed to this report.
* This is untrue, as ToI should know from Hamas’s revised Charter, May 2017.
“Hamas has unveiled a new political programme softening its stance on Israel by accepting the idea of a Palestinian state in territories occupied by Israel in the six-day war of 1967.
“The new document states the Islamist movement it is not seeking war with the Jewish people – only with Zionism that drives the occupation of Palestine.” Guardian May 1st, 2017