Disarming Gaza: Outdated, inapplicable

Imposed yet again in the latest so-called Middle East peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the demand to disarm Gazan resistance groups is an unlikely prospect, experts say.

Palestinian observers and political analysts say it is all but impossible to apply such demands in the so-called "Deal of the Century" rolled out on Jan. 28 by U.S. President Donald Trump.

According to the proposed plan, groups based in Gaza must relinquish their weapons and make the enclave a demilitarized zone before Israel would be held to fulfill its own obligations -- and even before any civil improvements are made for the city's residents.

Only after five years following a peace agreement between the sides would the Palestinian Authority be able to establish a seaport and airport for small planes in the city, and even then, on the condition of Tel Aviv's total satisfaction on the application of the items relating to Gaza and its security and environmental demands are met.

Such demands to disarm Gaza are not new, says political analyst Khaldoun al-Bargouthi, who cites an international quartet comprising of the U.S., EU, UN and Russia placing the same condition after Hamas' 2006 victory of the Palestinian legislative council elections.

The quartet in 2006 demanded Hamas "renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist, recognize the previous agreements signed with Israel and dismantle its weapons," in order for the international community to deal with the group as a recognized Palestinian body.

According to al-Bargouthi, Israel's objective was to eliminate all resistance against Tel Aviv, one of its prime concerns relating to Gaza.

He added that Hamas' disarmament has also sparked disagreement among Palestinians, with the Palestinian Authority seeking to become the sole official armed entity among the groups, an objective Hamas has refused.

"It is impossible under any international context to dismantle Gaza weapons," said al-Bargouthi, adding that this would remain unless agreement could be struck among Palestinians for a state and an army to protect it.

Agreeing with al-Bargouthi that disarming Gaza was an oft-demanded but futile venture, Abdelmajeed Swailem, another political analyst, added that the "resistance weapons" were "means" to achieve the Palestinian statehood.

However, he underlined that these arms must be held not by individual factions, but by a Palestinian state.

"We as Palestinians have an interest that these weapons to be owned by the state, not by the factions," he said.

- Failed attempts

Whenever speaking on the issue of improving the living conditions of Gazans, Israel and the U.S. have always pressed for the region's disarmament over the past 13 years.

The issue reemerged in 2017 when Israel conditioned the resumption of negotiations with Palestinians on the Hamas dropping its weapons.

Political analyst Mustafa Ibrahim said Palestinians over decades refused to disarm despite this being a clear demand in most agreements, including for ending the blockade on the city of over two million inhabitants.

Arguing that the "Deal of the Century" was an attempt to eliminate the Palestinian cause rather than to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Ibrahim underlined that many actors, whether Israeli or otherwise, had tried to bring Hamas to renounce its weapons, but all failed.

He added that the latest U.S. plan could not be applied as long as Palestinians were not part of it.

- Impossible application

Political commentator Husam al-Dajani underlined that any attempt to disarm Hamas would open the door to "confrontation," arguing that there were no actors that could force the group to do so.

"The Palestinian Authority is rejecting the so-called deal, so it won't be implementing its terms," al-Dajani opined.

He asserted that the issue of disarmament could only be discussed in an "intra-Palestinian" context, but said even this would not currently be possible.

Al-Dajani added Hamas would not accept half solutions and that it had already made its stance on the U.S. plan known.

He saw that disarmament was one of the serious matters that had to be resolved in the Palestine-Israel dispute -- as difficult as the status of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.

The so-called deal, al-Dajani said, only sought to address Israel's security needs and was a manifestation of the religious, political and economic alliance between Tel Aviv and Washington.

Last week, Trump released his long-awaited plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian dispute during a White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but with no Palestinian envoy in the room.

The plan refers to Jerusalem as "Israel's undivided capital" and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank. Palestinians were offered a route to running a series of territories connected by roads and a tunnel.