The head of Hamas abroad, Khaled Meshaal, is trying to convince the United States administration to follow the Palestinian group’s own “vision” on how to deal with disarmament and its military arsenal, a major sticking point in the second phase of the group’s two-month ceasefire with Israel.
Speaking on Al Jazeera Arabic’s Mawazine programme on Wednesday, Meshaal said Hamas aims to “create a situation with guarantees that war does not return between Gaza and the Israeli occupation”, which included the group potentially handing over its weapons, though it wants input on the process.
“As we approach the second phase, the challenge is upon us; there are some parties who want to impose their will on us as they wish. Like what the Israeli prime minister says – to take our weapons in any way, even by force. This is rejected by our people,” Meshaal said.
“We want to have a vision in which we have guarantees that these weapons are hidden, kept, not used, and not paraded. And we offered a long truce of seven or 10 years,” he added.
Meshaal outlined ideas to sustain the fragile ceasefire, which Israel has violated more than 700 times since it began, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, as the first phase, involving prisoner and captive exchanges, comes to an end.
Israel has not allowed the free flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, in violation of the truce’s terms, as hundreds of thousands of people are suffering the brunt of Storm Byron with only makeshift tents for shelter.
The more contentious second phase of the ceasefire will address Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian disarmament and the formal end to the war.
Meshaal told Al Jazeera that mediators were in dialogue with the US on Hamas’s approach to disarmament, but cautioned that surrendering weapons on the ground would be akin to “removing the soul” of the organisation.
He suggested moving to the second phase and adopting Hamas’s disarmament plan was plausible, arguing that a more pragmatic US approach increased the chances of success.
“I believe that with the pragmatic American mindset, which aims to reach the same goal but without being hard on the means, and with the help of the mediators, our friends around the world, we will be able to create such a vision that can be agreed upon with the US administration and then imposed on Israel,” he said.
