Gaza can be ‘paradise’ if Hamas is disarmed, Rivlin says

Peaceful reconstruction of the Gaza Strip is in Israel’s interests, but it must go hand in hand with the demilitarization of Hamas or there will be another round of fighting like the war that killed over 2,000 people this summer, President Reuven Rivlin said on Sunday.

If Israel’s security needs are fulfilled, Gaza could become a “paradise” for its residents, he added.

Speaking during a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, Rivlin stressed that rebuilding Gaza “is one of our interests as much as it is of the all the free world” but that “the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Gaza” must be tied to “the demilitarization of Gaza.”

Otherwise, he said, “the Hamas people once again will spend all the money that the whole world is trying to help them with in order to reconstruct Gaza, and will put it into military aims and the ability to attack Israel once again.”

“We can come to a dead end once again and we could find ourselves in a very, very serious situation,” Rivlin added.

Brende noted that he was last in Israel in July and said he knows that “this has been a very difficult summer for Israel… It has been tough on Israel and tough on the Palestinian people.”

The Norwegian foreign minister said, “I know now that there are important negotiations on a more permanent ceasefire and the conditions in Gaza under Egyptian leadership and I think that this is important,” referring to permanent ceasefire talks set to begin in Cairo in two weeks.

Brende said that the Israel-Hamas conflict should be seen in the context of the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and noted that “we cannot discuss the Israel and Palestinian situations without looking at [it] in a broader context.”