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If the Arab world acts decisively to sideline Hamas, the organization’s financial, logistical, and public support may erode significantly.
The highly anticipated Egyptian vision for the future of Gaza was announced in Cairo yesterday, broadcasting consensus across the Arab world against U.S. president Donald Trump’s “Riviera” plan for Gaza.
There is little in the Arab draft proposal that has not been floated previously. Unsurprisingly, and where it challenges Trump head on, is that it calls for reconstruction without the displacement of the Gazan population. While the plan displays a readiness to sideline Hamas, its shortcoming is that it leaves too much unsaid about how Hamas can be militarily dismantled, removed, or transformed. With this left unaddressed, it will face stiff resistance from the United States and Israel.
The fact that the emergency Arab summit took place a full month after the Trump plan was announced is just one indication of the complexities inherent to achieving Arab consensus on this point. The Egyptian draft, while significant for its plan to reconstruct war-torn Gaza by 2030, falls short of specifying how Hamas would be removed. At the same time, it proposes the establishment of a body called the “Gaza Administrative Committee” to run the Strip’s affairs in the first six months of the “early recovery” period, made up of independent Palestinian technocrats.
But any plan that calls for the building of “an airport, a fishing port and a commercial port” is not viable as long as Hamas retains monopoly over the use of violence in Gaza. The plan’s lack of specificity is deliberate, leaving the possibility open to negotiations that could firm up broader buy-in. However, too many unanswered questions can pave the way for spoilers as well.
That there are cracks in the Arab world on the question of Hamas is not a revelation. There is no love lost between Hamas and the leaders of many Arab states. Yet, to declare this when pro-Palestinian sentiment runs high in the Muslim world has been treated as a disproportionately costly choice by most leaders. For others in the Middle East, there may be value in retaining Hamas as a threat to Israel.
While some Arab officials have reportedly said behind the scenes that Hamas may be persuaded to cede control over the Strip, they will not agree to voluntarily demobilize militarily. Some senior Arab officials have called on Hamas to step down, including the Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who on February 11 called on Hamas to relinquish power in Gaza “if the Palestinian interest requires it.”
On March 2, Majed al-Ansari, who serves as an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and as foreign affairs ministry spokesperson, said that on the future of Hamas, “It’s up to the Palestinian people on the ground…We have to give agency to the Palestinian people. You can’t decide on their behalf.” The caveat is hard to reconcile with the hardship faced by the Gazans today and the near impossibility of expressing public opinion freely without fear of retribution by Hamas.
nationalinterest.org
The highly anticipated Egyptian vision for the future of Gaza was announced in Cairo yesterday, broadcasting consensus across the Arab world against U.S. president Donald Trump’s “Riviera” plan for Gaza.
There is little in the Arab draft proposal that has not been floated previously. Unsurprisingly, and where it challenges Trump head on, is that it calls for reconstruction without the displacement of the Gazan population. While the plan displays a readiness to sideline Hamas, its shortcoming is that it leaves too much unsaid about how Hamas can be militarily dismantled, removed, or transformed. With this left unaddressed, it will face stiff resistance from the United States and Israel.
The fact that the emergency Arab summit took place a full month after the Trump plan was announced is just one indication of the complexities inherent to achieving Arab consensus on this point. The Egyptian draft, while significant for its plan to reconstruct war-torn Gaza by 2030, falls short of specifying how Hamas would be removed. At the same time, it proposes the establishment of a body called the “Gaza Administrative Committee” to run the Strip’s affairs in the first six months of the “early recovery” period, made up of independent Palestinian technocrats.
But any plan that calls for the building of “an airport, a fishing port and a commercial port” is not viable as long as Hamas retains monopoly over the use of violence in Gaza. The plan’s lack of specificity is deliberate, leaving the possibility open to negotiations that could firm up broader buy-in. However, too many unanswered questions can pave the way for spoilers as well.
That there are cracks in the Arab world on the question of Hamas is not a revelation. There is no love lost between Hamas and the leaders of many Arab states. Yet, to declare this when pro-Palestinian sentiment runs high in the Muslim world has been treated as a disproportionately costly choice by most leaders. For others in the Middle East, there may be value in retaining Hamas as a threat to Israel.
While some Arab officials have reportedly said behind the scenes that Hamas may be persuaded to cede control over the Strip, they will not agree to voluntarily demobilize militarily. Some senior Arab officials have called on Hamas to step down, including the Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who on February 11 called on Hamas to relinquish power in Gaza “if the Palestinian interest requires it.”
On March 2, Majed al-Ansari, who serves as an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and as foreign affairs ministry spokesperson, said that on the future of Hamas, “It’s up to the Palestinian people on the ground…We have to give agency to the Palestinian people. You can’t decide on their behalf.” The caveat is hard to reconcile with the hardship faced by the Gazans today and the near impossibility of expressing public opinion freely without fear of retribution by Hamas.
What’s In The Arab Plan For Gaza?
If the Arab world acts decisively to sideline Hamas, the organization’s financial, logistical, and public support may erode significantly.
nationalinterest.org
