Arab countries call on Hamas to disarm, leave Gaza

The Arab League, which includes Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, also condemned – for the first time – Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in a UN declaration.

Palestinians and Hamas fighters attend a funeral ceremony for 40 militants and civilians killed during the war with Israel. Picture: AFP.

Arab nations have called on Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza, in an unprecedented move against the terror group.

The Arab League, which includes Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, also condemned – for the first time – Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Arab League joined 16 other countries, including Australia and the European Union in supporting the “New York Declaration,” which sets out a phased plan to end the nearly eight-decade conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and the ongoing war in Gaza. The plan, laid out at a UN conference on Tuesday (local time) would culminate with an independent, demilitarised Palestine living side-by-side with Israel, and the nation's eventual integration into the wider Middle East region.

The declaration urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state and gave “unwavering support” to a two-state solution. It said conference co-chairs France and Saudi Arabia, the European Union and Arab League, and 15 countries that led the working groups, agreed “to take collective action to end the war in Gaza”.

Notably, it added: “In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state”.

In another first for Arab states, the declaration also condemns Hamas’s massacre which killed about 1200 people, mainly Israeli civilians, while militants took about 250 people hostage. Some 50 are still being held.

France described the declaration as “both historic and unprecedented”.

“For the first time, Arab countries and those in the Middle East condemn Hamas, condemn October 7, call for the disarmament of Hamas, call for its exclusion from Palestinian governance, and clearly express their intention to normalise relations with Israel in the future,” said Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s foreign minister.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan urged the rest of the 193 UN member nations “to support this document” before the start of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in mid-September.

The declaration follows a call on Monday by the Palestinian delegation at the UN for both Israel and Hamas to leave Gaza, allowing the Palestinian Authority to administer the coastal territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution and rejected the UN meeting on both nationalistic and security grounds. The US also boycotted the conference, calling it “unproductive and ill-timed”.

The declaration envisions the Palestinian Authority governing and controlling all Palestinian territory, with a transitional administrative committee immediately established under its umbrella after a ceasefire in Gaza.

It also supports deployment of “a temporary international stabilisation mission” operating under UN auspices to protect Palestinian civilians, support the transfer of security to the Palestinian Authority and provide security guarantees for Palestine and Israel – “including monitoring of the ceasefire and of a future peace agreement”.

The declaration calls for countries to recognise the state of Palestine, calling this “an essential and indispensable component of the achievement of the two-state solution”.

It comes as Israel and the US accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of “rewarding Hamas” after he announced the UK would follow France and recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire and long-term peace process in the next eight weeks.

French President Emmanuel Macron had announced ahead of the meeting that his country would recognise the state of Palestine at the General Assembly’s meeting of world leaders in late September.

The two countries are now the biggest Western powers and the only two members of the Group of Seven major industrialised nations to make such a pledge.

With AP