This Hamas official has said a couple of interesting things:
- He doesn’t want Sir Tony Blair (former UK prime minister) involved in the governance of Gaza, despite Trump’s plan for the region proposing this.
- Hamas doesn’t plan to disarm, unless they are giving their weapons to a future Palestinian army.
Quote about the first point:
“When it comes to Tony Blair, unfortunately, we Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims and maybe others around the world have bad memories of him… We can still remember his role in killing, causing thousands or millions of deaths to innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq… We can still remember him very well after destroying Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Quote about the second point:
Dr Naim said Hamas would not completely disarm and that weapons would only be handed over to the Palestinian state, with fighters integrated into the Palestinian National Army… “No one has the right to deny us the right to resist the occupation of armies,” he said.
Thoughts on this?
The trump proposed ceasefire really sucks and I hate that Tony Blair slimed his way in. As shit as it is this is still an off ramp to the war and a path to peace.
Hamas really should not be talking about a Palestinian army at this moment. They should not be even signalling that they still have a force and an intention to keep pursing militarisation.
Anyone who would be “provoked” by such statements was already looking for an excuse and would find one no matter what Hamas did.