US considers disarming Hamas along lines of IRA peace plan
Qatar and Turkey have suggested a plan under which Hamas would be disarmed gradually over a period of years, similar to the decommissioning of the IRA after the Good Friday Agreement.
Washington is reportedly considering a plan under which Hamas would be disarmed gradually over a period of years as part of phase two of Donald Trump’s peace plan.
The proposal put forward by Qatar and Turkey to US negotiators would see the militant group “freezing” or “storing” its weapons during a prolonged truce, in a plan modelled on the IRA peace process of the late 1990s.
Negotiators from Qatar, Israel and Washington met over the weekend in New York, with sources telling the US news outlet Axios it was “the highest-level meeting between the countries since the deal to end the war in Gaza, for which Qatar served as a key mediator”.
Axios also reported White House envoy Steve Witkoff hosted the meeting, with Mossad spy chief David Barnea representing Israel and an unnamed senior Qatari official in attendance.
Qatar, along with Egypt and the US, helped broker the comprehensive ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with the implementation of Mr Trump’s peace plan a focus of the New York talks.
On Monday (AEDT) Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s decision-making political bureau, said the group was “very open-minded” about what to do with its weapons.
“We can talk about freezing or storing or laying down (weapons), with the Palestinian guarantees, not to use it at all during this ceasefire time or truce,” he told the Associated Press. Naim suggested the truce could last five or 10 years, but Qatar and the US are discussing a decommissioning process of around two years.
Israel’s Ynet reported that the plan – to which the US has signalled its agreement – was drawn up by Qatar and Turkey as a way for Hamas to “save face,” so the militant group wouldn’t have to admit it had been defeated.
However Israeli media reports that Jerusalem believes the proposals are a smokescreen to keep Hamas armed.
The plan will be at the centre of talks between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli Prime Minister meets his US counterpart in Florida on December 28. Mr Netanyahu is expected to stay at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for at least three days, during which time he will also meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“The Prime Minister will meet with President Trump on Monday, December 29. They will discuss the future steps and phases and the international stabilisation force of the ceasefire plan,” Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told reporters.
Mr Netanyahu on Monday said that, with the body of the only one hostage left in Gaza, Israel was ready to move to the second – and far more complex – phase of the peace deal. Under this phase, Israel should withdraw its troops further from Gaza, Hamas is to disarm and an international security force would be deployed as reconstruction begins.
On Monday, Hamas’s powerful political leader Khaled Mashal told a conference in Turkey that Hamas would not disarm or give up control of Gaza. According to Israeli media, Qatar and Turkey suggested that instead of disarming, the group hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, or transfer its arms to a warehouse under some kind of supervision.
The plan is similar to the decommissioning deal followed by the UK after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement when the IRA handed over their weapons which were put into supervised storage by the British.
In October, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament Britain was prepared to use its experience with the Good Friday Agreement to the Gaza peace process.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair and his one-time chief of staff Jonathan Powell, who were central to the Northern Irelance peace process have been closely involved with Mr Trump’s 20 point plan for Gaza.
Sir Tony, the only person named to sit on Donald Trump’s Gaza “board of peace”, has been removed from the running after Arab and Muslim states objected to his participation.
The Financial Times said Sir Tony was out of the running because of his reputation in the Middle East, primarily over his support and British involvement in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
However British media reports that he will still be involved in the process, on an executive committee that is one rung below the peace board.
With AFP
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