Weapons delivery by Hamas would be "signature of defeat" against Israel

Hamas announced this Monday (6) that it will dissolve its government in the Gaza Strip, transferring civilian control to a Palestinian technocratic committee.

The movement is seen as an attempt to advance the peace process in the territory, which has been practically stagnant since the beginning of the ceasefire.

For André Lajst, political scientist and president of Stand With Us Brasil, the announcement represents only a symbolic concession. "What happened in practice was that the person responsible for the government's emergency commission, which is the internal mechanism that Hamas has had in the Gaza Strip to control the civilian population since 2007, resigned," he explained.

According to him, this opens up space for the committee formed after the ceasefire agreement to assume civilian control, covering issues such as humanitarian entries and reconstruction.

However, André Lajst stressed that handing over civilian control does not mean giving up weapons. "Hamas, giving up arms control, is signing the defeat for Israel in this war that has lasted almost two and a half, three years," he said.

For him, it is very difficult for the group to radically change its ideology and accept conditions that would mean the end of its control over the region.

Weapons as an instrument of power
André Lajst drew a parallel with Hezbollah in Lebanon to explain the logic behind the refusal to disarm. According to him, before October 7, 2023, Israel was not in the Gaza Strip, and yet Hamas already had weapons.

"I understand, as a political scientist, that it is an excuse to keep the weapons," he declared. Similarly, Hezbollah used the Israeli presence in southern Lebanon as justification for 18 years, and when Israel withdrew from the region in 2000, the group simply claimed another occupation to remain armed.

"These groups need weapons to stay in power. If they give up their weapons, they lose control, power, influence and, basically, their cause", said André Lajst.

According to him, while Hamas continues to recruit young people and arm people, Israelis and Americans view any movement by the group with skepticism and distrust, especially when, in parallel, it prepares for a future confrontation.

Obstacles to a lasting solution
For the ceasefire to evolve into a lasting peace, André Lajst assessed that a diplomatic process would be necessary in which Palestinians and Israelis negotiate based on territorial exchanges and mutual recognition of state legitimacy.

"Hamas, specifically, does not accept the existence of Israel in a conceptual way. So, Hamas cannot be part of this equation," he said.

In this scenario, the group's weapons would need to be incorporated into a police force or army under the control of the technocratic committee, focused solely on exercising the rule of law in the Palestinian enclave.

Until this happens, the analyst considers the possibility of real progress in peace negotiations to be remote.

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Source: CNN