Written by Michael Thervil
Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images
Is Gaza ready to move on without Hamas? Currently there is no clear-cut answer to that question? The reason why this question is being brought up is because with the conclusion of talks in Cairo, Egypt by the leaders of Arab countries in the region, it seems that it was agreed that Hamas would not play a role during and after the reconstruction of Gaza. Today's talks were centered on creating a plan that counters American President Donald Trump's plan to build what he calls a “Middle East Riviera” in Gaza. With the reconstruction of Gaza standing at the estimated cost of $53 billion dollars according to the 112-page draft entitled: “Gaza 2030”; the question on the minds of people the world over is: “how are they going to rebuild Gaza without any influence from Hamas and without displacing the 2 million people of Gaza at the same time in practice?”
This question is even more relevant given the fact that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is no longer in effect. For the perspective of many geopolitical analysts, this serves as nothing but another additional obstacle that will ultimately hinder any efforts towards the progression and rebuilding of Gaza. Currently, all of the Arab leaders that attended Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s joint meeting in Cairo are in agreement to share their proposed plan for the rebuilding of Gaza with President Trump. What's to be expected or better yet predicted is that President Trump is going to want America to gain something from this deal if he has anything to do with it. The truth of the matter is he and America should get something out of it.
But again, the one thing that remains constant is that none of the decision makers on both sides of the aisle want Hamas a part of the Gaza rebuilding process. Hamas on the other hand has stuck to their guns by stating that they oppose any foreign entities making any decisions about how Gaza should be rebuilt and restored. But they did state that they were willing to cease their operation if there is a Palestinian state recognized on the world stage and if Palestine is allowed to be self-governing. This is understandable because there is no sovereign country that wants another country to make decisions like this on its behalf without that country's input. However, according to former American Diplomat William Lawrence: “some people in Washington see the summit in Cairo as a chance to build unity in Palestine.”
The question that we are posing here at VEDA Communications is how can anyone outside of Palestine create any solutions about Palestine in good faith at this point. We are taking this position because so far to date, there hasn’t been any plan made by foreign actors that have actually worked in both the short and long term. With the illegal land annexation imposed on Palestine by Israel while being backed by America combined with the fact that outside of Ansarullah executing offensive countermeasures toward western assets in the area, no other Arab country has not exercised any courage to actively defend the people of Palestine.
Arab leaders in attendance of today's meeting in Cairo, Egypt are as follows:
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa
Iraqi President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid
Sudanese Armed Forces Leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed Al-Menfi
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi
Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani
The proposal between Arab leaders in Cairo suggested that instead of Hamas controlling Gaza, a Palestinian committee should govern Gaza, then ultimately transferring their power over to the Palestinian Authority (P.A.). To many people, the P.A. has done nothing for the Palestinian people, especially people that reside in the West Bank over the decades that it's been in operation but being a punching bag for Israel. The evidence for this claim is that the Israeli government has already called for the P.A. to step aside and has threatened retaliation if they don’t.
According to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi:
“With the help of its Palestinian brothers, Egypt has worked to create a Palestinian administrative committee of independent professionals and technocrats, who will be tasked with governing Gaza with the expertise of its members.”
Why Technocrats out of all things, people, and types of governance? Who stands to gain from this? Currently there are no answers to these two questions.
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