Trump plan cannot be implemented without negotiations: Hamas official
Mousa Abu Marzouk has spoken to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic about Hamas’s response to Trump’s Gaza proposal.
Here are the key takeaways from the Hamas official’s remarks:
- Hamas agreed to a regional and international vision presented by Egypt.
- Trump’s plan cannot be implemented without negotiations.
- The group dealt positively with the points that concern Hamas in Trump’s proposal.
- Plans for a peacekeeping force for Gaza require greater understanding and clarification.
- The priority is to stop Israel’s war and massacres in Gaza.
- The handover of Israeli captives within 72 hours is theoretical and unrealistic under the current circumstances.
- Hamas will enter into talks on all issues related to the group and its weapons.
- Hamas has reached a national consensus to hand Gaza’s administration over to independents, with the Palestinian Authority responsible for that.
Hamas’s Abu Marzouk rejects Trump-led ‘Board of Peace’
Mousa Abu Marzouk has rejected a tenet of Trump’s Gaza proposal that says the US president will head a transitional oversight body for Gaza – the “Board of Peace” – alongside other officials, including ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera that Palestinians will never accept any kind of outside body having control over them. “Palestinians should control themselves,” the Hamas official said.
Under Trump’s plan, the board would set a framework and handle the funding for Gaza’s redevelopment until the Palestinian Authority completes reforms and can take over.
“We will never accept anyone who is not Palestinian to control the Palestinians,” Abu Marzouk said, adding that Blair specifically is unwelcome.
“We can’t bring someone like Tony Blair to be governor in Gaza because this man, he destroyed Iraq,” he said, referring to the former British leader’s decision to join the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Hamas wants deep talks on major questions left by Trump’s plan
Trump’s plan for Gaza “lacked a clear political horizon” and will require deep negotiation before it becomes operational, a political analyst has told Al Jazeera.
Sultan Barakat, a public policy professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera the 20 points are better likened to “principles” and have left major questions about the future of Gaza up for debate.
“For it to be made operational, they need to sit together and they need to talk together,” Barakat said, adding that such discussions must place Palestinians “right at the centre”.
Longer-term questions range from the end of the Israeli occupation to linking the West Bank and Gaza, Barakat said.
“These are legitimate demands – these are all what would actually lead to a peace plan,” he continued. “So in effect, what [Hamas has] done, is said, ‘Let’s now stop the killing, you take your hostages, and let’s talk about what can happen in the future.'”
