Rubio addresses conditions of disarming Hamas, Hezbollah
We have more lines from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also spoke about disarming Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon:
- If Hamas is ever in a position in the future where they can threaten Israel with their weapons, there will be no peace.
- The types of weapons that can be used to attack Israel can act as a baseline for the disarmament of Hamas.
- No one can be convinced to invest money in Gaza if they believe that another war could start within a few years.
- Everyone wants a strong Lebanese army that controls the country and Hezbollah disarmed, and we are hopeful about the talks to achieve that outcome.
- No one is in favour of Hezbollah threatening Israel and the region as an Iranian proxy, something that will hinder peace.
US says there is no peace if Hamas ‘can threaten’ Israel
Rubio has stressed the need for Hamas to longer pose a threat to Israel when asked whether the group can undergo partial disarmament and hold on to its light weapons.
“Everyone wants peace. No one wants to return to a war. If Hamas is ever in a position in the future that they can threaten or attack Israel, you’re not going to have peace,” he said.
“You’re not going to convince anyone to invest money in Gaza if they believe another war is going to happen in two, three years. So I would just ask everyone to focus on what are the kind of weaponries and capabilities that Hamas would need in order to threaten or attack Israel as a baseline for what disarmament needs to look like.”
Despite leading rights groups and UN investigators accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, the US continues to portray peace in the region though the lens of Israeli security, not the safety of Palestinians or their own right to self-defence.
Rubio offering more pragmatic approach on Hamas arms
The most significant point Marco Rubio made during his presser was actually about Gaza, when he was asked if Hamas would have to completely disarm, and he said as long as they wouldn’t be able to threaten Israel.
He is essentially saying that they don’t want big arms going to Hamas. But perhaps, this was also an expression of the realization that the complete disarmament of Hamas simply wouldn’t be acceptable to people in Gaza either.
Clearly, this is a much more pragmatic approach coming out of the State Department.
We know that the foreign policy on key issues is driven by Donald Trump as the president, but Rubio is aware of the real work that has to be done on the ground.
There was a hope that the stabilisation force would be in place by the end of the year, but it is clear that this is not going to happen until early next year at the earliest.
It was not surprising that Rubio identified Hamas, and not Israel, as the ones violating the ceasefire despite the repeated Israeli air strikes since the US position very much has been to back Israel in this situation.
