by Con Coughlin
Hamas's refusal to provide a clear-cut commitment to meeting the disarmament demand, moreover, comes at a time when it continues to consolidate its hold over Gaza, especially since the start of the Iran war.
Several members of Trump's Board of Peace, especially Turkey and Pakistan, have expressed serious concerns about, if not outright hostility to, disarming Hamas, a factor that many believe has resulted in talks on the disarmament of the terror group being put on hold.
Mladenov's optimism about persuading Hamas to disarm, however, was not shared by the terrorist organisation itself. A Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that, while the terrorist group had received a written document, it denounced the initiative as a "take it or leave it" offer. He said Hamas would first wait to see the outcome of the Iran war before responding.
Hamas's refusal to provide a clear-cut commitment to meeting the disarmament demand, moreover, comes at a time when it continues to consolidate its hold over Gaza, especially since the start of the Iran war. In an attempt to control Gaza's civilian population, Hamas has been enforcing price controls and managing the distribution of goods arriving from outside the Strip, moves that suggest it has no intention of relinquishing its grip over Gaza.
Trump must not abandon his demand that Hamas fully disarm before going forward with his Gaza peace plan.
US President Donald Trump's ambitious plan to bring lasting peace to Gaza risks being completely ruined after suggestions that members of his Board of Peace are not fully committed to disarming Hamas terrorists, a key requirement of the Trump administration's peace plan.
Prior to the war in Iran, Trump made disarming Hamas his top priority as he sought to implement his ambitious 20-point peace plan for Gaza's reconstruction. As the president wrote on his Truth Social platform in January in response to Hamas's continuing prevarication over the disarmament demands, "they can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
Since then, the Trump administration's focus on disarming Hamas appears to have taken a back seat as the American leader has become preoccupied by the challenges of the war in Iran since launching Operation Epic Fury on February 28.
Despite the fact that Iran for decades has been one of Hamas's most devoted supporters, providing funds and military equipment for its terrorist infrastructure, the demand for the terror group to disarm has been put on hold for the duration of the conflict, a move many believe could be a first step by some members of the Board of Peace to abandon completely the demand for Hamas to disarm.
Several members of Trump's Board of Peace, especially Turkey and Pakistan, have expressed serious concerns about, if not outright hostility to, disarming Hamas, a factor that many believe has resulted in talks on the disarmament of the terror group being put on hold.
There are even concerns that Trump's own envoys involved in negotiations taking place in Cairo to safeguard the existing ceasefire might be tempted to water down the disarmament demands in return for making progress on other areas of the peace plan, such as increasing aid and NGO access to Gaza.
The Gaza ceasefire has been under serious strain since the start of the Iran war, prompting members of the Board of Peace to attend meetings with Hamas representatives in Cairo aimed at easing tensions.
Following the meetings, Israel announced that it would soon reopen the sole crossing for pedestrians between Gaza and Egypt, shut since the air campaign against the Iranian regime began. One official said he believed the Israeli announcement was a direct result of the meeting between Hamas and the board.
Trump's board was represented at the talks with Hamas by Aryeh Lightstone, an American aide to Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. A US official said that Lightstone had attended Gaza-related meetings in Cairo in the past several days, without confirming whether he met with the Hamas delegation.
In an attempt to break the impasse over the disarmament issue, mediators meeting in Cairo said in an interview with NPR that they had given Hamas a formal proposal to lay down its weapons. The proposal calls for Hamas and all other terrorist groups in Gaza to hand over all weapons, making an emerging governing authority responsible for all the arms.
The proposal is said to call for a comprehensive framework to ensure the "complete handover" and "full decommissioning" of arms belonging to Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, and that if Hamas accepted the proposal, it would ensure large-scale reconstruction of Gaza.
Nickolay Mladenov, the former UN diplomat charged with implementing Trump's plan for postwar Gaza, said that the ceasefire's mediating countries had agreed on a "framework" to see Gaza rebuilt, but that Hamas must be disarmed.
He said executing on the framework "requires one clear choice: full decommissioning by Hamas and every armed group, with no exceptions and no carve-outs."
Mladenov's optimism about persuading Hamas to disarm, however, was not shared by the terrorist organisation itself. A Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that, while the terrorist group had received a written document, it denounced the initiative as a "take it or leave it" offer. He said Hamas would first wait to see the outcome of the Iran war before responding.
Hamas's refusal to provide a clear-cut commitment to meeting the disarmament demand, moreover, comes at a time when it continues to consolidate its hold over Gaza, especially since the start of the Iran war. In an attempt to control Gaza's civilian population, Hamas has been enforcing price controls and managing the distribution of goods arriving from outside the Strip, moves that suggest it has no intention of relinquishing its grip over Gaza.
Another key factor that could have an important positive bearing on the future of Trump's Gaza peace plan is that, with the war against Iran in full flow, Washington has received the support of its long-standing Gulf allies, who now find themselves the target of unprovoked Iranian missile attacks.
Trump must not abandon his demand that Hamas fully disarm before going forward with his Gaza peace plan.
Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22364/disarming-hamas-priority
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