Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk (AP/Khalil Hamra)
Senior Hamas official rejects US demands that Hamas disarm, claiming that only Hamas terrorists can protect Israeli towns near Gaza.
By World Israel News Staff
A senior Hamas terrorist on Tuesday rejected demands that the Gaza-based Islamist organization disarm, in keeping with the terms of the US-backed peace deal, arguing that it is in fact in Israel’s best interests that Hamas retain its military capacity.
Under the 20-point peace plan drafted by the Trump administration, Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza must surrender their weapons while the Gaza Strip is demilitarized, a condition President Donald Trump has reiterated repeatedly since the first phase of the deal went into effect last month.
However, Hamas politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouk rejected disarmament during an interview with Al Jazeera Tuesday night, while arguing that Hamas provided security to Israeli towns near the frontier.
“Why do they want to disarm Hamas?” Abu Marzouk asked. “Is it for regional stability? Is it to secure towns on the Gaza frontier? Is it to prevent a repeat of the 7th of October, as they claim?”
“These are the goals the Israelis have laid out to back their demand that [Hamas] disarm.”
“But the question now is – the logical question that must be asked: if you want to achieve these goals, will disarming Hamas achieve them?”
Despite Hamas’ invasion of Israel two years ago and massacre of some 1,200 Israelis, Abu Marzouk argued that disarming the terror group would not only fail to secure Israeli border towns, it would increase regional instability and heighten the security threat to Israeli towns.
Abu Marzouk warned that without Hamas’ armed control, Gaza would fall into chaos, comparable to the widespread internecine violence in Iraq after the toppling of the Hussein regime.
“Hamas is the controlling force, and if you disarm this force, what will happen? There will be other weapons, there will be other groups,” Abu Marzouk said. “There will be other armed groups, just like there were in Iraq, for instance. Al Qaeda and ISIS emerged in the chaos that followed.”
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