Even if a Mother Teresa was Running Gaza She Couldn't Possess Rockets - by Dr. Aaron Lerner

...Yes. We most certainly want Hamas disarmed. But we need to be crystal clear that those weapons are not to be added to the armories of the Palestinian Authority. They are to be either destroyed or removed.

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA Weekly Commentary..
19 October '17..
Link: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=72802

I appreciate that all the talking heads are confident that there's a snowball's chance that the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation is actually implemented.

Nonetheless, I maintain that it is important that we get our sound bite right.

Our issue with the massive deployment of rockets, mortars and many other implements of war in the Gaza Strip, in gross violation of the agreements the PLO solely signed with Israel, is not that Hamas currently controls them.

Our issue is that these illegal weapons are present at all in the Gaza Strip.

Special Representative For International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt stated today that "any Palestinian government must ...accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties – including to disarm terrorists..."

Now technically you could argue that within the phrase "accept previous agreements and obligations" he had in mind the very existence of illegal weapons in the Gaza Strip, but I fear that by then saying "including to disarm terrorists" that somehow it would be ok, in his view, if Hamas handed over their rockets etc. to the "good Palestinians" to hold onto.

Israelis are also talking about "disarming Hamas" instead of "ridding the Gaza Strip of illegal weapons".


What do Gazans think about these weapons?

Here are the results of a poll of 500 Gazans carried out 12-14 October 2017 by An-Najah National University Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies

From your own point view, what is the most ideal solution for the arms of resistance?
37.8% Collecting all arms and there should be no arms other than the arms of one authority
27.8% Restoring the situation to how it was before the dominance of Hamas over the Gaza Strip
20.6% Leaving the situation as it is now
13.8% No opinion/I do not know

That's right - only 20.6% of Gazans support Hamas' demand that it keep its weapons.

Yes. We most certainly want Hamas disarmed.

But we need to be crystal clear that those weapons are not to be added to the armories of the Palestinian Authority.

They are to be either destroyed or removed.

IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis: Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations
Website: www.imra.org.il

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

.