If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And nowhere is this more true than in the Middle East.
On July 6, anonymous members of Hamas told the news agency AFP that they were dissolving their own authority in the Gaza Strip, which has long served as the base of operations for the U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
One unnamed Hamas operative told AFP: “The movement has decided to dissolve the Gaza government committee and to appoint a nationally accepted figure to oversee the committee’s work until the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza [NCAG] formally assumes its responsibilities.” That committee, created by President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, would then oversee Gaza, which Hamas has ruled since 2007.
The Board of Peace struck a skeptical note. The Board said that it had “taken note” of Hamas’s announcement but that “ultimately our assessment will be guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza.”
And in order for NCAG to assume full governing authority, there must only be “one authority, one law and one weapon.” And that requires “the consolidation of all weapons under the control of the NCAG as provided for in the Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803.”
The board’s skepticism of Hamas’s announcement — made, it must be noted, via anonymous leaks — is well deserved.
Never in modern history has an Islamist terrorist group disarmed itself. Islamist movements are both violent and totalitarian by nature; they do not believe in sharing power or submitting to others. It is unlikely that Hamas, which has continued to torture and murder dissidents and critics, will prove to be an exception to the rule.
THE FUTURE OF THE PALESTINIAN MOVEMENT
Indeed, Hamas still refuses to set down its arms. As Palestinian Media Watch, an organization that translates Arab media, pointed out: A report Sunday in the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat “revealed what Hamas was not prepared to give up.”
Hamas, the paper noted, “insists on a gradual process of gathering weapons and transferring them to a Palestinian entity, it also demands that Israel withdraw from areas it holds, which it claims constitute about 70% of the Strip’s territory.”
Hamas is almost certainly playing word games. The terrorist group claims that it will gradually gather weapons and eventually surrender them to an unnamed Palestinian “entity.” And even this faux concession is conditioned on an Israeli withdrawal.
But Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel within any borders. Rather, the group’s own charter unequivocally states that it considers all of Israel to be an Islamic Waqf, a holy trust consecrated for all Muslims until the end of time.
In other words: Per Hamas’s own definition, an acceptable Israeli “withdrawal” would be nothing less than an end of the Jewish state itself. And until that happens, Hamas will never set down its arms.
Another Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, pulled the same stunt in 2000, refusing to disarm even after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon.
Hamas’s cooperation with a “board of peace” would always be unlikely. The group’s charter declares: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”
In 2006, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip after a nearly four-decade-long occupation. Not only did Hamas not disarm, but it then proceeded to defeat Fatah, its rival for power in elections. A bloody internecine war followed, with Hamas torturing and murdering Palestinians from other factions.
Hamas hasn’t held elections since and has refused to share power. Some Palestinian groups, such as Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, among others, are allowed to operate in Gaza — but only if they subordinate themselves to Hamas.
Indeed, although Hamas has claimed that it is dissolving its own authority in Gaza, the group has also said that its “technical and professional staff” will keep their jobs.
In short: Hamas isn’t going anywhere. Rather, they’re likely engaged in yet another disinformation campaign.
In 2017, Hamas made an extended public relations push to convince the West that it had amended its 1988 charter.
As I noted at the time, many Western news outlets were quick to regurgitate the terrorist group’s claims. But instead of revising the charter, we now know that Hamas was really preparing for war, eventually culminating in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the largest massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust.
Why the PR push? In 2017, Hamas was short on funds and reeling from a half-decade dispute with Iran, its chief benefactor. Hamas had refused to openly support Tehran’s efforts to prop up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in the country’s bloody civil war, and the Islamic Republic punished the group by turning off the taps.
Hamas, it seems, is once again playing for time and money. The latest war has severely damaged Iran. Hamas needs time to rebuild and knows that Iran will, too.
Hamas’s strategy echoes an earlier one adopted by its rival Fatah.
The Soviet Union was one of Fatah’s chief supporters. When the Soviet empire fell, the group’s leader, Yasser Arafat, needed to fill its rapidly depleting coffers. He spoke words of peace on the White House lawn and signed the Oslo Accords on Sept. 13, 1993.
HAMAS PLAYED THE PRESS IN GAZA
But that very night, speaking in Arabic on Jordanian television, Arafat reassured his audience that the fight against Israel would continue. He spent the next decade telling naive Westerners that he wanted peace while simultaneously writing checks to suicide bombers murdering Israeli civilians in cafes, buses, and hotels.
The Board of Peace has it right. In the Middle East, as elsewhere, actions speak louder than words. By refusing to set down its arms and explicitly renounce its charter, Hamas is making its intentions clear. One only has to look past the group’s ceaseless barrage of propaganda to see it.