By Marco Mayer and Valeria Fargion
An actual Palestinian state requires, as a precondition, the disarmament of the Hamas terrorist organization. The international community should push for it, or further destabilization will ensue.
Is it realistic to resume the “Two Peoples/ Two States” project as long as Hamas’s Al Qassam Brigades are operational in Gaza? Advocates of an actual Palestinian state might want to think about it.
It’d mean subjecting Israel to a constant terrorist threat. Hamas would rebuild its tunnels and organize a new October 7th in no time. And then what? The subsequent extermination of the Jews that the Jews should passively accept? Or the panicked and frightened indiscriminate Israeli reaction against all Palestinians to fuel further hatred, escalation of violence, and regional destabilization?
Those who support the Palestinian cause cannot continue to evade the political crux of Hamas’s persistent military presence in Gaza City and the Strip. The October 7th condemnation is not enough. The question is: what to do to disarm Hamas? Besides the public outcry, not many countries in the world seem willing to brave dealing politically with the offensive capability of this brutal terrorist organization.
Yet this question is what the international community truly faces. The symbolic recognition of the State of Palestine, previously promised by some Western countries, fails to address the issue.
At the end of July, some Arab League countries called for the complete disarmament of the Al Qassam armed militias, but Hamas refused. Pressure from Arab countries is not enough. Hamas can still count on a robust network of contacts, and Iran is the tip of the iceberg. After the October 7th massacre and kidnappings, neither Russia nor China severed relations with Hamas. Moreover, there is the ambiguous and at times functional role of Qatar, which hosts, protects, and thus enables the Hamas leaders.
Furthermore, the BBC recently documented (see here) the multiple financial channels that have fueled and continue to fuel Hamas and its propaganda. In this context, despite their differences over Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions, European leaders could promote a joint diplomatic initiative with Arab countries. It could relaunch their proposal for the complete disarmament of Hamas, a necessary condition for starting realistic negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In parallel to resolving the humanitarian emergency, this position could be adopted by all countries and organizations keen on ensuring the future well-being, security, and freedom for the Palestinian people.
It could be helpful to involve several Palestinian cultural entities and the Palestinian National Authority. It would avoid repeating the experience of the 2018 Abraham Accords, when the Palestinian people were bypassed entirely.
This entire process would be short-circuited if the next UN General Assembly passes a resolution recognizing Palestine without Hamas’s disarmament as a precondition. Such a step would embolden Hamas and its friends and thus prolong war and instability in the region.
There are undoubtedly many reasons to criticize Israel for humanitarian violations, but the current mainstream narrative is factually wrong. The prerequisite for building a Palestinian state is the disarmament of Hamas.
Is this radical shift in perspective possible? Isaac Ben Israel (see here) highlighted how, after October 7, Israel chose a completely flawed (and now almost impossible to remedy) communication strategy towards the international public opinion.
Of course, it’s not just a question of communication. It’d be enough just to consider the enormous number of civilian victims, the disasters being wreaked by settlers in the West Bank, and the substantial blackmail to which Israeli society is subjected by the Orthodox far-right.
Demanding that the heads of state or governments of France, Germany, Italy, or Poland, Immanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni, or Donald Tusk, and other European political leaders contradict their home public opinions and go against the grain of their media-driven societies is probably going too far.
However, European politicians must have the courage to state the truth. There are fewer than two months left before Netanyahu implements the hazardous plan to evacuate civilians from Gaza City, and the Israeli military has been the first to highlight the grave dangers of this operation for both sides. Without an effective political initiative that puts Hamas disarmament at the forefront, Netanyahu’s gamble might be destined to materialize.
