After slaughtering 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 240 others on October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Hamas terror group is again trying to dupe gullible Westerners, including the Biden administration and the European Union, into believing that it has accepted the "two-state solution." The solution envisages the creation of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state next to Israel, on the entire lands of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
The latest Hamas deception came in the form of statements made by Khalil al-Hayya, a senior official of the group, in an interview with Associated Press (AP).
"A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders," AP reported on April 25, 2024.
The Hamas official would not have dared to utter similar nonsense to an Arab media outlet. He knows that here his lies are directed at English-speaking audiences, who tend to swallow whole the baloney spouted by Israel's enemies.
The Hamas official wants everyone to believe that his group is ready to stop killing Jews for a period of five years "or more" if it gets the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. He just forgot to mention that there was an official truce between Israel and Hamas until October 7, when the terror group Hamas initiated the current war.
The Hamas official also forgot to mention that Hamas has repeatedly violated several truces and ceasefire agreements reached with Israel over the past 17 years. The truces and ceasefires were always used by Hamas to regroup and rearm in preparation for the next round of attacking Israel.
The claim that Hamas will convert into a political party is also laughable. Hamas will never abandon its weapons or dismantle its armed group, especially after the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Hamas will not lay down its weapons; it is committed to continuing the Jihad (holy war) against Israel, regardless of whether Israel ever withdraws from the West Bank and east Jerusalem or not.
The political leadership of Hamas is also undoubtedly aware that without its weapons, other rival factions such as Fatah would instantly seize the opportunity to get rid of Hamas.
Al-Hayya said that Hamas would accept "a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions." If that happens, he said, the group's military wing would dissolve. Hamas, he added, will then turn into a political party.
The "return of Palestinian refugees" means flooding Israel with more than five million Arabs, most of whom are currently living in "refugee camps" run by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA). This would turn the Jews living in Israel, which already has two million Arab citizens into a minority in their own country. Israel, in other words, will cease to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people.
What Hamas is actually saying is that it wants two Palestinian states – one inside Israel, and the second in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
The AP, which had been housed in the same building in Gaza as Hamas's military intelligence unit and which still helps Hamas spread its disinformation, smoothly described the suggestion that Hamas would disarm as "a significant concession by the militant group officially committed to Israel's destruction." The news agency then took a swipe at Israel by remarking:
"But it's unlikely Israel would consider such a scenario. It (Israel) has vowed to crush Hamas following the deadly Oct. 7 attacks, and its current leadership is adamantly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war."
For the AP, apparently, Hamas is making a credible statement when it claims that if given control of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem, the terrorist group would dissolve its armed wing and lay down its weapons. Hamas, regrettably, when it comes to trust, has a rather poor track record. Before the official ceasefire that came to an end on October 7, Israel believed that if it eased security restrictions, allowed thousands of Palestinian laborers to come and work in Israel and improved the economic situation in the Gaza Strip, then Hamas would not attack Israel. So much for the trustworthiness of Hamas, and presumably other terrorist groups (see here , here and here) .
The Associated Press does not seem to comprehend why, after the atrocities committed on October 7 -- which included murder, rape, beheading, mutilation and burning people alive -- Israel might feel obligated for its national security to "crush" Hamas. Why on Earth would Israel want to destroy a terrorist organization that still seeks to destroy it and that committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Unfathomable! Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that:
"October 7 massacre was equivalent to 29 9/11s in one day and the equivalent of 50,000 Americans slaughtered — burned, maimed, raped, beheaded — and 10,000 Americans taken hostage, including mothers and children."
The AP additionally does not seem to understand why Israel's current leadership is "adamantly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state" at Israel's doorstep. After what happened on October 7, it would be hard to find many Israelis who support the idea of creating a Palestinian state next to their villages and homes. The mere talk about a Palestinian state these days is regarded as a reward for Hamas's genocidal assault on Israel. It sends the message to Hamas that after you murdered so many Jews, the international community will reward you by giving you a state. It reaffirms that terrorism works. Where do we sign up?
It is high time to remind AP and the rest of the world that Hamas had full and exclusive control of the Gaza Strip –as well as a blue-chip ceasefire -- when thousands of its members invaded Israel seven months ago. There were no Jews inside the Gaza Strip: Israel had totally pulled out of the coastal enclave in 2005. The Gaza Strip, where two million Palestinians live, was, in fact, an independent and sovereign Palestinian state -- with a judiciary system, security and police forces, and a government and parliament.
Hamas even had exclusive control over a border with the outside world – the one between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. All that still did not stop Hamas from launching its October 7 massacre against Israelis. The secret that the AP and the US administration do not want you to know is that Hamas does not actually want the Gaza Strip or the West Bank or east Jerusalem. Hamas wants to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Iran-backed Islamist terror state.
The same al-Hayya who is now pretending to be moderate and pragmatic recently boasted in an interview with The New York Times:
"Hamas' goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such. This battle [the October 7 atrocities] was not because we wanted fuel or laborers. It did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza. This battle is to completely overthrow the situation."
In the eyes of Hamas leaders, "overthrowing the situation" means inflicting as much pain and suffering on the Israelis as possible by initiating a multi-front war to kill Jews and replace Israel.
If Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are given a state next to Israel, they will absolutely continue to pursue their goal of killing Jews and obliterating Israel.
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad has clearly said that the terror group will repeat the October 7 attack, time and again, until Israel is annihilated. He added that Palestinians are willing to pay the price and "proud to sacrifice martyrs."
"Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country, because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation, and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force...
"The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs."
The AP's failure in comprehension is not the first time that Westerners have fallen for Hamas deceit. In 2017, Hamas also published a "policy document," falsely described by some Western analysts and reporters as a big concession and sign of moderation from the terror group.
The Guardian promoted the proposal back then:
"[S]ome influential diplomatic figures will seek to persuade Trump's Middle East advisers that the document at least shows there is the potential for a peace settlement based on the recent regional push led by Egypt. It may also open the way for international investors to start rebuilding basic services in Gaza, and end the blockade.
"In the biggest concession, the new document states that Hamas 'considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of 4 June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus'".
The assumption, again, was that Hamas has finally recognized Israel's right to exist by accepting the "two-state solution." A careful read of the 2017 Hamas "policy document," however, revealed the group's real intention: to eliminate Israel.
Article 2 of the Hamas document, titled "The Land of Palestine," states:
"Palestine, which extends from the [Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean [Sea] in the west, and from Ras al-Naqurah in the north to Umm al-Rashrash in the south, is an integral territorial unit. It is the land and the home of the Palestinian people."
Article 3 goes on to state: "Palestine is an Arab Islamic land. It is a blessed sacred land that has a special place in the heart of every Arab and every Muslim."
Finally, articles 19 and 20 of the document make it clear that Hamas will never recognize Israel's right to exist, even if it is given a Palestinian state next to Israel:
"There shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity. Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea."
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has repeatedly clarified that his group's acceptance of a Palestinian state does not mean that it will abandon its goal of destroying Israel.
Earlier this year, Mashaal said:
"I would like to say two things about the two-state solution. First, we have nothing to do with the two-state solution. We reject this notion, because it means you would get a promise for a [Palestinian] state, yet you are required to recognize the legitimacy of the other state, which is the Zionist entity. This is unacceptable. We demand to be liberated, to get rid of the occupation, and to have our independence, and our state. [Israel] is my enemy. It is not my concern...
"Obviously, the position of Hamas, and the position of the vast majority of the Palestinian people, especially following October 7, I believe that the dream and the hope for Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, and from the north to the south, has been renewed...
"Hamas agreed to a completely independent [Palestinian] state, with the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, with the right of Return included – without recognizing the legitimacy of the Zionist entity."
Commenting on the false assumption that Hamas had agreed to a "two-state solution," Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow with The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote:
"The lines below are for the next person who comes to me with "Hamas agreed to two state solution." It DID NOT!
"Hamas outlines this scenario fully in its Charter as amended in 2017. Israel hands over all of West Bank, East Jerusalem and West Bank (1967 land) to Palestinians and agrees to return of 5.9 million Palestinians to Israel (1948 land). A sovereign independent Palestinian state is declared, with a national unity cabinet (Hamas + PLO) and a platform for the liberation of the rest of Palestine. Since 1948 is still under occupation, the Palestinian state cannot recognize Israel.
"The Hamas militia then becomes "resistance" that enjoys national Palestinian consensus. i.e. Hamas in 1967 Palestine becomes like Hezbollah in Lebanon, its own statelet with its own army dominating a much weaker state. Hamas will likely then stock as much rockets and drones possible for the next round of war to destroy Israel, maybe after the truce with Israel (10 years) is over.
"Prophet Muhammad is said to have entered into a 10 year truce with the infidels. He conquered them a few years into the truce. Hamas imagines a similar scenario with Israel.
"Even better, with return of 6 million Palestinians to Israel, add 2 million Arabs to them, 8 million Arabs will eventually outnumber 8 million Jews. Palestinians in Israel can then take over Israel through elections. Jews become a minority. The two Palestines are unified as one. Israel is annihilated, Zionism is over, and "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.""
Hamas is well aware of the credulity of the international community. It knows that it can engage in all forms of propaganda and win friends in the West. It also knows that the best vehicle to advance its goal of killing Jews and destroying Israel is a "two-state solution."
Bassam Tawil is an Arab Muslim based in the Middle East.
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