YONI BEN MENACHEM -- In the attempt to move forward with the implementation of the second phase of the US plan in the Gaza Strip, Hamas is setting conditions and expressing reservations, while raising public demands regarding the nature and scope of the commitments at this stage.
US President Donald Trump’s peace plan includes the establishment of a peace council headed by him, which will oversee a committee of Palestinian technocrats; the disarmament of Hamas and the denial of any role it plays in governing the Gaza Strip after the war; and the deployment of an international stability force. However, Khalil al-Hayya, the leader of Hamas and the terrorist organization’s chief negotiator, presented Hamas’s position and its interpretation of the American plan.
In a speech he delivered yesterday to mark the 38th anniversary of Hamas’s founding, al-Hayya argued that “weapons are a right enshrined in international law for peoples under occupation.” According to him, Hamas is ready to examine any initiative that will preserve this right and at the same time ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Al-Hayya emphasized that the role of the Peace Council, according to Hamas, is to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, financing, and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip only, and rejected "Any manifestation of guardianship or mandate" over the Palestinian people.