{Originally posted to the IMRA website}
Many talking heads suggest that Prime Minister Netanyahu has a Machiavellian
interest in keeping Hamas in power in the Gaza Strip as this situation
precludes the conclusion of a deal with Mahmoud Abbas.
But it doesn’t
In fact, if there really was a genuine and viable “deal” according to which
a sovereign Palestinian state is established, the implementation of such a
deal in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) with implementation postponed in
the Gaza Strip until the end of Hamas rule and the demilitarization of the
area, would provide the strongest possible pressure for Hamas to end its
rule.
The fact that a deal accepted by the Palestinian representative bodies, was
already concluded, would strip Hamas of its legitimacy.
Gazans would be reminded daily of the very tangible fruits of a sovereign
Palestinian state that they are missing.
I frankly do not think that there is such a things as a “genuine and viable
deal according to which a sovereign Palestinian state is established,” but
talking heads who still think that pigs can fly have no basis to assert that
Hamas is stopping it.
The implementation of any semblance of a logical sovereignty deal would make
the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state contingent on the Gaza
Strip first being demilitarized.
After all, no one in the world claims that Gaza isn’t bristling with weapons
that no doubt would be prohibited by a deal.
If anything, a restoration of PA control of the Gaza Strip would postpone
implementation of any deal since there would be no justification for a “West
Bank first” implementation of the agreement and the failure to demilitarize
Gaza would serve to permanently postpone Palestinian sovereignty.