Report: Hamas examining proposal to disband armed wing, transition solely to politics

Hamas leaders both inside and outside the Gaza Strip are debating what the terror group’s future should look like, and are potentially open to discussing disarmament, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reports.

According to the report, which cites unnamed sources within Hamas, one proposal being examined by the group’s leadership suggests dissolving its armed wing and reinventing itself as solely a political organization “capable of taking part in political, economic, social and general public life.”

The proposal also calls for Hamas to become a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, chaired by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the source says.

The source adds that joining the PLO would allow Hamas to become “an important political actor” alongside other Palestinian political parties, thus reviving the political process in the Palestinian territories.

Becoming a legitimate political party in the eyes of the Palestinian public would also ensure Hamas’s “survival away from its weapons,” the source tells Asharq Al-Awsat, acknowledging that the terror group has lost much of its internal support after two years of war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians.

The source acknowledges that Hamas leaders have already been discussing the possibility of disarming with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, and says that the matter has been broached indirectly with the United States.

But the source says that should Hamas decide to lay down its weapons, it would only do so “through a Palestinian national agreement” and would not allow Israel or the United Nations to get involved.

The United Nations voted this month to adopt a US-sponsored resolution authorizing the establishment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to secure the Gaza Strip.

Under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, the ISF could be tasked with taking part in the demilitarization of Gaza.

However, the Hamas source tells Asharq Al-Awsat that the terror group will not allow the ISF to “impose itself by force to disarm,” and warns of “an undesirable and dangerous state of chaos” if it does so.

The source adds that the proposal to disband Hamas’s armed wing in favor of pursuing politics has been submitted to the terror group’s politburo leaders, the Shura Council and other relevant bodies within Hamas.