PA top cop: Hamas must disarm under unity deal

The head of the Palestinian police says that Hamas must disarm to allow a landmark reconciliation deal signed last month with rival Fatah to succeed.

Hazem Atallah’s comments come as cracks begin to show in the Palestinian reconciliation deal mediated by Egypt over the issue of security control of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is due to retake control of the Gaza Strip, currently still run by Islamist movement Hamas, by December 1.

“We are talking about one authority, one law, one gun,” Atallah tells journalists in Ramallah in the West Bank, echoing a line from PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Asked whether he could allow Hamas’s armed wing to maintain its weapons while being in charge of police in Gaza, he says: “No way.”

“It is impossible. How can I do security when there are all these rockets and guns and whatever? Is this possible? It doesn’t work.

“Otherwise how can I be in charge? Who is going to be standing and saying, ‘I am the chief of police, I am in charge,’ if I am not controlling everything?”

He says the 8,000-9,000 Palestinian police who worked in Gaza before Hamas took over in 2007 would return to their posts, rejecting the idea of merging with the existing Hamas-led police.

This, he adds, would need major financial support as the police’s budget would effectively double.

— AFP