Trump's Peace Council Sends Hamas Disarmament Proposal: 'May Those in Charge Make the Right Choice'
US President Donald Trump's Peace Council sent the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas a written proposal on how it could lay down its arms, two sources said, a step the Palestinian militants have so far refused to take, as the US president insists on his plans for the future of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported on Saturday.
Donald Trump at the Peace Council PHOTO AFP
The submission of the proposal to Hamas, which was initially reported by NPR, was made during the meetings in Cairo last week, said one of the sources, according to the same agency, quoted by Agerpres.
According to the two sources familiar with the situation, Nickolay Mladenov and Aryeh Lightstone participated in the discussions.
Mladenov is the Trump-appointed envoy to the Gaza Peace Council. Lightstone is an adviser to Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Trump's plan for Gaza, which Israel and Hamas agreed to last October, calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the start of reconstruction once Hamas lays down its arms.
“It requires a clear choice: the complete disarmament of Hamas”
The Gaza Peace Council's envoy said Thursday that serious efforts are underway to bring aid to the war-torn Palestinian enclave, with a framework agreed by mediators that could lead to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, with much of it in ruins.
The proposal “is now on the table. It requires a clear choice: the complete disarmament of Hamas and every armed group, without exception and without reservation. In this season of hope, may those in charge make the right choice for the Palestinian people.”Mladenov wrote on the X platform in a post on the occasion of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Hamas has not yet commented.
Since the beginning of the war started by the US and Israel against Iran (February 28), disarmament talks have been suspended.
An amnesty offer, on the Hamas table
According to US officials, Iran-backed Hamas fighters could be granted amnesty under a deal in which the Islamist militants pledge to give up all heavy and light weapons, including rifles.
Sources close to Hamas say the group is likely to refuse to give up the rifles for fear of attacks by rival militias in Gaza, some of which are backed by Israel. Hamas and its rivals have attacked each other since the ceasefire last October.
Much will depend on what is acceptable to Israel, which is demanding the group's complete disarmament, one of the sources said.
Some prominent Hamas officials have categorically rejected any disarmament in recent months.
Israeli officials have given no sign of withdrawing their troops, which control roughly half of Gaza, while Hamas firmly controls the other half of the enclave and its population of two million Palestinians, most of them homeless after more than two years of devastating war.
The source said amnesty and targeted investment in Gaza were being offered as incentives for Hamas, but added that it was unclear whether the Peace Council would have the funds to pay for such a thing.
Last month, Trump was promised about $7 billion in funds from other countries, including some in the Gulf, before those same countries were attacked by Iran in an expanding Middle East war. The source said only a small portion of these promised funds were actually provided, without specifying the amounts.
