April 25, 2024 (EIRNS)—Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya declared on April 24 that Hamas would lay down its arms, if there were a Palestinian State in a two-state solution to the conflict. In an interview yesterday with the Associated Press, he said they are willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that Hamas would convert to a political party, if an independent Palestinian state is established “in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions.” Al-Hayya is considered a high-ranking Hamas official and has represented Hamas in negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage-exchange. Despite the significance of such a concession by Hamas, it is believed that Israel is unlikely to consider such a scenario, at least under the present government of Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu.
Further, Al-Hayya told AP that Hamas wants to join the Palestine Liberation Organization, headed by the rival Fatah faction, to form a unified government for Gaza and the West Bank. He said Hamas would accept “a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions,” along Israel’s pre-1967 borders. The group’s military wing would then dissolve.
He explained: “All the experiences of people who fought against occupiers, when they became independent and obtained their rights and their state, what have these forces done? They have turned into political parties and their defending fighting forces have turned into the national army.”
Al-Hayya also said that an offensive in Rafah would not succeed in destroying Hamas. He said Israeli forces “have not destroyed more than 20% of [Hamas’] capabilities, neither human nor in the field. If they can’t finish [Hamas] off, what is the solution? The solution is to go to consensus.”
