Hamas ignores its political future amid Trump’s proposal

By Hassan Asfour
Within 24 hours the U.S. president said a halt to the war on the Gaza Strip is very near, and that Israel had accepted his terms while awaiting a response from Hamas, which quickly gave the customary reply — that it would agree to any proposal subject to conditions.

Trump’s recent remarks differ radically from previous ones, not in substance, which has been repeated since his return to the White House, but in form and expression. The first indication is bypassing the Egyptian and Qatari channels and selecting an Israeli outside any official role or authority — reminiscent of the Shalit deal — that is, someone who is not a central figure in the Jewish state’s system. This is not merely a matter of form, but relates to a substantive issue that should not be overlooked.

Bypassing the traditional channels of Egypt and Qatar since the start of the first deal in November 2023 shows that the “new” American proposal carries a clear threat that will not be merely verbal as before. It may extend geographically beyond the Gaza Strip to affect the existence of Hamas leadership abroad, alongside declarations by Israel’s Mossad.

A few hours before Trump’s “warning” to Hamas, the head of the Jewish fascist government, Netanyahu, said that time was running out and the military operation must end quickly, adding “with full victory,” hinting for the first time that the entity was losing politically and diplomatically. The statement turned out to be fully coordinated with the U.S. administration, confirming a joint decision to halt the war on their terms.

Hamas responded to Trump’s “Israeli” “conditions” without addressing the central demand in all the talk about the day after: the question of its political future as a faction, rather than discussions about its presence in government and disarmament.

The central issue regarding a “halt to the Gaza war,” alongside the traditional conditions, is that there be no organizational presence of Hamas in the Strip in any form. It will be treated as the Nazi Party was in Germany and the Ba’ath Party was in Iraq — irrespective of the forms or narratives that might be put forward to sell the same idea. The core will not accept any presence of Hamas, and it will be dealt with as a banned faction under hot pursuit.

The requirement to ban Hamas politically and organizationally has been ignored by the movement’s leadership across its branches, even though they know for certain that it is the main key to stopping the aggressive military action against the Gaza Strip and to the rules for reconstruction in all its components, under their own conditions that are tied to preventing any possibility of a new military confrontation. That will not occur without Hamas’s complete disappearance from the scene, not merely its exit from government as is commonly stated.

Certainly, some will view the talk of completely banning Hamas from political activity in Gaza and treating it as happened in Germany and Iraq as unrealistic or “fantastical,” but the political reality under the terms of a halt to the war will accept nothing less — away from emotions or a short-sighted reading of the depth of developments after the October 7 conspiracy. The five conditions announced by the U.S. and Israel essentially relate back to this matter.

Hamas’s leadership, and the Palestinian factions trembling at the thought, should know they have no political future in the Gaza Strip in any guise. Therefore it would be better for them to begin formulating their arrangements according to that fact rather than ignoring it, and to emulate their second mother Islamist group in Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood, when it announced the dissolution of “the group” under circumstances that prevented its continuation and declared readiness for final dissolution.

Opting to dissolve Hamas itself in the Gaza Strip, and considering other formats elsewhere for its remnants abroad — who have interests and assets — to avoid a hot assassination hunt and a rude expulsion from “temporary host” countries, may be the possible path to safety instead of regret. And then regret will not help — the October conspiracy offers a stark lesson.

Without sinking into the swamp of distant emotional reactions and the cries of sentiment, the political future in the Gaza Strip will not be produced by “chants of justice,” but will be produced by the reality of “general military destruction.”

Note: President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the British capital safely… to see its prime minister, Starmer… this is a good response to the hallucinations of the Jewish state… but the strange thing is that his delegation is devoid of any Fatah leaders, unlike usual… even the vice president, who almost never misses these trips, did not fly this time… could it be that the sulking started early… the story is not short, people…

Special note: The Tel Aviv–Damascus road is very passable — a ministerial meeting every other day — even though As-Suwayda is almost acting like “its own republic” with full Jewish backing. But it seems the “legitimate” rule in Syria hasn’t recovered. Could it be that the “cunning of the authority” has flipped you over, Bu Hamid… oh my.