Hamas deal to cede Gaza control sets up showdown over guns

Bloomberg

As the Palestinian Authority attempts to reassert control over the Gaza Strip this week, Hamas’s refusal to give up its guns is feeding doubts that a unity deal can
take root.
The authority’s prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, led a parade of senior officials from the West Bank on Monday to take over ministries that have been operated by Hamas since 2007, when the militant group violently seized control of Gaza. He is scheduled to hold a formal cabinet meeting in Gaza City on Tuesday, with a bevy of Egyptian generals and United Nations diplomats on hand to demonstrate support for the reunification effort.
“We are certain that the only road that can bring us to our national goal is the road of unity and turning the page on division,” Hamdallah said at a press conference after entering Gaza. “We are here to tell the whole world from the heart of Gaza that the Palestinian state won’t be established without the unity of Gaza and the West Bank.”
By leaving security issues for later, the two sides managed to agree last month on reviving a joint government that crumbled 10 years ago. But they also paved the way for a bitter showdown over international demands that Hamas surrender its weapons and recognise Israel’s right to exist as part of any peace agreement.
“Unless it’s real disarmament it’s not viable, it’s not sustainable and it won’t be acceptable to Israelis or Americans,” said Daniel Shapiro, the former US ambassador to Israel.
Suicide Bombings
In the past, Israel has fought against a role in the Palestinian government for Hamas, which achieved international notoriety in the 1990s by launching suicide bomb attacks in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US and the EU. Steps taken include temporarily halting the monthly transfer of some $100 million in tax revenue Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu sees the deal as a Hamas effort to gain international legitimacy without changing its aim to destroy Israel, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s political delicacy. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment directly on the Palestinian Authority’s return to Gaza.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party and Egyptian officials mediating the reconciliation talks have soft-pedaled the disarmament issue, saying the goal is limited to unifying security forces in the West Bank and Gaza under a single command. Abbas has packaged his policy under the slogan “One government, one law, one gun,” refusing to spell out whether that means confiscating Hamas weapons.
“No one will dare to demand this,” said Tarek Fahmy, assistant director of the National Center in Cairo. “For now, the weapons must remain in the hands of
the people.”
Mussa Abu Marzuk, one of the most senior Hamas leaders living outside Gaza, said the key to reaching the deal was the recognition that it was pointless to demand that Hamas disarm because it would never agree to such terms.