RUTHFULLY YOURS

More than a year after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to view the Iran-backed Islamist movement as a legitimate partner.

Last week, representatives of the PA’s ruling Fatah faction (headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas held talks in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to discuss establishing a joint administration to rule the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian source confirmed that the Fatah-Hamas discussions aim at to create a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip, in addition to pursuing efforts to reach a ceasefire there.

Another Egyptian security source was quoted as saying that the talks “aim to unify the Palestinian ranks and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.” According to the source, the Fatah and Hamas negotiators “showed more flexibility and positivity towards establishing a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip.”

Tayseer Nasrallah, a senior Fatah official who participated in the talks with Hamas, expressed “optimism” that the talks with Hamas would lead to the formation of a committee for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. The talks, he said, “aim to unify visions regarding the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip” in the aftermath of the current Israel-Hamas war, which erupted after the October 7 attack that resulted in the murder of 1,200 Israelis and the injury of thousands. During the attack, many Israelis were beheaded, raped, tortured, and burned alive. In addition, more than 240 others were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 101 – alive and dead – remain in captivity.

Hamas, for its part, said: “We held a meeting with our brothers in the Fatah faction, and the atmosphere of the meeting was positive and frank.” The terrorist group added that the two sides discussed “the formation of a body to follow up on the affairs and needs of the Gaza Strip,” and noted that the meetings with Fatah will continue.

Last month, Fatah and Hamas representatives held similar talks in Cairo to discuss ways of ending the rivalry between the two parties and establishing a Palestinian unity government. Senior Hamas official Taher a-Nunu said that the purpose of the talks was to “achieve Palestinian national unity and strengthen security and political coordination between the two sides.” Unnamed Fatah officials were quoted as saying that their faction has agreed to the formation of a joint committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip.

By negotiating with Hamas about the future of the Gaza Strip, Abbas is legitimizing the Iran-backed terror group and sending a message to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that he sees no problem with dealing with murderers and terrorists who committed the most horrific crimes against Jews since the Holocaust. As we have seen most recently in the Chinese Communist Party (for instance here, here here, here, here here, and here), Iran and Afghanistan, negotiating with terrorists and their equivalents simply does not work.

Abbas should, instead, be condemning Hamas and distancing himself from the terror group rather than sending his officials to hug and kiss its representatives in Cairo. He should be holding Hamas fully responsible for the destruction of the Gaza Strip as a result of the war the terror group started when it sent thousands of its terrorists to attack Israeli civilians in their homes on October 7, 2023.

Moreover, Abbas should be urging Hamas to relinquish control over the Gaza Strip instead of begging it to agree to the formation of a joint Fatah-Hamas committee to manage the affairs of the coastal enclave.

Hamas should not be permitted to play any role in the Gaza Strip after the war. This would allow the terror group to rearm and regroup and prepare for another October 7-style attack on Israel.

Ever since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in wars they initiated with Israel. With the help of Europe, Qatar and Iran, Hamas transformed the Gaza Strip, home to two million Palestinians, into one of the largest bases for Islamist terrorism in the Middle East. All three invested hundreds of millions of dollars into building a vast network of tunnels, and into manufacturing and smuggling weapons, including rockets and missiles. The assumption that Hamas would voluntarily give up its control of the Gaza Strip because of any unity agreement with Abbas is just laughable.

Abbas’s efforts to reach a deal with Hamas will only embolden and reconstitute the terror group and incentivize it to pursue its Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel. These efforts send a message to Hamas that, despite the crimes it committed against Israelis on October 7 and the Nakba (catastrophe) it brought on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, it can still play a key role in Gaza after the war. Since 2007, Hamas has demonstrated that it does not care about the well-being of the Palestinians living under its rule. The only thing Hamas cares about is remaining in power and continuing the fight against Israel to satisfy its patrons in Iran.

The Biden administration chose to turn a blind eye to Abbas’s efforts to legitimize Hamas. The US offered it a lifeline. A terror group committed to the elimination of Israel should have no role in any Palestinian government — not in the West Bank and certainly not in the Gaza Strip. Such a group should be completely destroyed militarily and politically, and not invited to join any Palestinian government.

Since the beginning of the war, Israel has destroyed most of Hamas’s military capabilities and killed many of its top leaders, including arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 atrocities. The US and the rest of the world should encourage Israel to continue its efforts to eradicate Hamas. They should also urge Abbas and the PA leadership to immediately cut off all contacts with the terror group. There is no alternative to a total victory over Hamas and Iran’s other terror proxies, as well, ultimately of the toxic Islamist regime in Iran. As long as Iran’s regime remains in place, torturing both its own people and others — as far away as Argentina — there regrettably will be no peace. That is the only way to secure a truly peaceful future, not only for Israelis but for Palestinians and the Free World.

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.