What is the terror group Hamas's true position regarding demands to lay down its weapons and the formation of the Board of Peace headed by US President Donald J. Trump?
Hamas is clearly unfazed by Trump's repeated threats that it must give up its weapons. The terror organization maintains that Israel is the one that needs to be disarmed. Hamas has become used to Trump's recurring threats over the past year -- especially with Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Trump's new Board of Peace to make sure that Hamas is left untouched. Hamas is apparently convinced that Trump's threats are just a means of scaring the terror group.
Hamas and many Palestinians, however, have significant reservations about Trump's Board of Peace. They view it as a "new round of colonization" in the Middle East by the US and other Western powers.
Trump seems to regard the Gaza Strip as a real estate enterprise that can be managed by earnest investors, politicians and technocrats, and not as a terror hub for Hamas and other Islamist Jihadists committed to destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamist state.
In response to Trump's latest call for Hamas to disarm, Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the terror group in the Gaza Strip, told Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV network, the unofficial mouthpiece of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, "The weapons of the resistance are a response to the [Israeli] occupation."
"The real weapons," he added, "that should be talked about are the Israeli weapons."
When Hamas talks about the "occupation," it is referring to the non-negotiable demand that Israel not be allowed to exist within any borders in the region. The terror group, which does not, anyhow, recognize Israel's right to exist, will lay down its weapons only when Israel ceases to exist as the only sovereign homeland of the Jewish people. As Fatah official Jibril Rajoub stated on January 19, "[Mahmoud] Abbas supports "resistance in all its forms [terrorism] " until there is a Palestinian state.
Hamas, which describes itself as "one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine," remains committed to the teachings of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, who is quoted in the terror group's 1988 charter as saying: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
It is possible that Hamas may put on a show by handing over some of its light weapons to impress Trump and his Board of Peace. Hamas, however, will never surrender all its weapons, especially the thousands of missiles and rockets it manufactured and stockpiled over the past two decades. The terror group knows that the moment it loses all its weapons, it will cease to exist both as a political and military entity. It needs the weapons to maintain control over the residents of the Gaza Strip and protect its future viability, its members and leaders, especially against its political rivals in Gaza, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas wants the Board of Peace to focus only on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, not security-related issues, such as the "demilitarization" of the Gaza Strip. According to Qassem, the Hamas spokesman, the Board of Peace should compel Israel to reopen the border crossings of the Gaza Strip (with Israel and Egypt) and lift restrictions imposed on the entry of humanitarian and medical aid.
Qassem also stressed the need "to mobilize political, financial and economic support to launch a genuine reconstruction that is appropriate to the reality of Gaza, the culture of its inhabitants and their political goals, without neglecting the basic political and national rights of the Palestinian people."
Hamas, meanwhile, understandably appears to be satisfied with Trump's decision to allow Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to play a role in the future management of the Gaza Strip. The participation of Arab and Islamic countries "that have clear positions in support of the Palestinian cause can be viewed positively," Qassem said.
Hamas has every reason to be gratified. Qatar and Turkey have long been the main sponsors of Hamas. They have provided the terror organization with money and diplomatic aid, and hosted many of its leaders and activists. These countries will undoubtedly serve as Hamas's representatives on the Board of Peace and make sure that the terror group preserves its political and military presence not only in the Gaza Strip, but in the Palestinian arena as well. The assumption that Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or other Arab and Islamic countries would participate in any effort forcibly to disarm or demote Hamas and the other Palestinian terror groups is nothing but a starry-eyed make believe.
Another Hamas official, Taher a-Nunu, also rejected Trump's call on the terror group to give up its weapons:
"The Palestinian people live under [Israeli] occupation, and according to international law and humanitarian law, it is the right of peoples under occupation to resist until they gain their freedom... If the occupation ends, there is no need for resistance or weapons, but so long as the occupation exists, the real problem is its existence, not the tools of resistance against its weapons, but rather in the continuation of the Israeli occupation."
A-Nunu, like Qassem, is also making it unequivocal that so long as Israel exists, Hamas will never give up its weapons.
"The essence of the crisis in Palestine," according to a-Nunu, "does not lie in the resistance's weapons, but rather in the continuation of the Israeli occupation."
Reminder: There was no Israeli "occupation" in the Gaza Strip ever since 2005, when Israel forcibly removed all 8,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip to make room for the exclusive use of the Palestinians – until October 7, 2023, when Hamas carried out its invasion of Israel. That day, Hamas slaughtered more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and wounded thousands of others.
It is also worth noting that Hamas's October 7 massacre targeted towns and cities inside the areas of Israel that had been agreed upon by the Palestinians in the 1993 Oslo Accord, not settlements in the West Bank. The Jews who were murdered, tortured, and kidnapped that day were not "settlers." They were ordinary Israeli citizens living in Israel proper. Ironically, some of the victims, such as Canadian-born Vivian Silver, 74, were passionate pro-Palestinian activists.
Many Palestinians and Arabs share Hamas's views on the Board of Peace, especially on not permitting disarmament. Writers, academics, journalists, and political activists have been denouncing the Board of Peace as a new "international trusteeship project aimed at re-engineering Gaza's political and security administration and paving the way for the disarmament of the resistance."
Palestinian activist Moaath Khalaf described the council as an extension of colonial projects:
"The Gaza Board of Peace can be conventionally called the Gaza Colonization Council, and the mission is difficult to complete."
Palestinian political analyst Yassin Ezzedine wrote that the nature of the board reflects its true objectives:
"Trump announces the formation of the Board of Peace. Its composition is flawed, which is to be expected. It is headed by [former UN envoy Nikolay] Mladenov, and its members include [Steve] Witkoff, [Jared] Kushner, an Emirati minister, an American rabbi, and a Cypriot-Israeli businessman. The composition of the Gaza administration committee is also flawed, as all its members are loyal to the Palestinian Authority, masquerading as technocrats and professionals."
Palestinian poet and journalist Ali Jahiz described the Board of Peace as
"[A] major catastrophe... a peace board for the occupation of Gaza and the disarmament of the resistance. It is headed by the criminal Trump, and consists of bodies led by Zionists, with nominal participation from regional countries. In short: A dangerous occupation with multiple fronts."
Several Palestinian terror factions, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also expressed reservations about Trump's Board of Peace. The factions claimed that the selection of the board members took into consideration only Israeli interests and demands. PIJ spokesman Mohammed al-Hajj Musa said: "The names serve only the interests of the [Israeli] occupation and the selection of members was based on specific Israeli criteria."
Another important fact that Trump and his advisors need to pay attention to: Hamas is threatening to attack members of the proposed International Stabilization Force in the Gaza Strip. An unnamed Hamas leader was recently quoted as saying that "any force that comes to carry out tasks on behalf of the [Israeli] occupation will be treated as an occupying force."
Hamas's refusal to disarm, its opposition to the Board of Peace, and threats to kill members of the International Stabilization Force signal that the terror group and its supporters have total contempt for Trump or anyone who seeks a better life for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. For the Islamist terrorists, the Jihad to destroy Israel takes precedence over reconstruction, economic prosperity, everything.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
