Here’s the Biggest Roadblock to Permanent Peace in Gaz.
sputnikglobe.com
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire and Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan are good first steps, but leave key questions unanswered, opening the door to a potential resumption of fighting, Lebanese American University assistant professor, governance and international affairs specialist Joseph Helou has told Sputnik.
With the peace plan, “the devil’s in the details,” Joseph Helou said, pointing to the point requiring Hamas to “decommission their weapons” on the path toward “peaceful co-existence” and possible Palestinian self-determination and statehood.
The situation echoes demands for Hezbollah’s disarmament in Lebanon. “If they give up their arms, are they really resistance movements anymore? What is a resistance movement without arms?” Helou said, noting that he doesn’t “see these movements being shelved,” especially as young Gazans who witnessed Israel’s killings of their relatives over the past two years grow up and desire retribution.
“With Hamas, the fear is that this becomes another South Lebanon…which is that in phase two, when we move into a discussion of Hamas’ weapons, Hamas refuses to surrender, or says it will surrender them as part of a long-lasting agreement, which is a two-state solution. And then Israel refuses and says ‘ok, we might either go back to war or just enforce this on our own terms, meaning that at any point we can target a Hamas official or leader or politician’. That would expose Gaza to the same security vulnerabilities that south Lebanon faces at the moment,” the academic explained.
Overall, Helou sees the Trump peace plan is “aspirational” in its language and goals, but containing no “institutional pathway toward a permanent settlement.” That, combined with its lack of details on how many of the goals are to be achieved, leaves much to be desired.
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