|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22078/gaza-hamas-disarmament
No Other Nation Has Expressed Readiness to Directly Engage Hamas Fighters
(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - Hamas is not the only terror group operating inside Gaza. Among the other groups are Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Popular Resistance Committees, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (affiliated with the Fatah faction headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas), Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, and Palestinian Freedom Movement. Some of these groups were also involved in kidnapping Israeli and foreign hostages on Oct. 7. No nation globally has expressed readiness to have its forces directly engage Hamas fighters. Most Arabs and Muslims do not see Hamas as a threat to their national security; they therefore see no need to engage the terror group. This leaves Israel as the only country that has an urgent interest in disarming Hamas to prevent it and its allies from carrying out more atrocities in Israel. It is imperative that the Trump administration insist on the disarmament of all the terror groups operating in Gaza, not only Hamas. If the proposed international force does not want to, or is incapable of undertaking such a task, the U.S. should give Israel a green light to finish the job. Total disarmament appears to be the only way to ensure Trump's vision that "Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors." Moreover, the U.S. needs to make sure that members of all these terror groups are not incorporated into any new Palestinian police force established in Gaza. Recruiting Islamist jihadis and terrorists to such a police force would allow them to pursue their Jihad (holy war) against Israel with new uniforms and guns supplied by the international community, and the deradicalization of Gaza will never take place. The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.