Rebuilding a Demilitarized Gaza Is the Road to Peace

[Draggingtree]

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Rebuilding a Demilitarized Gaza Is the Road to Peace

Alan Johnson12 August 2014

 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

 

— Robert Herrick, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

 

Here is an idea whose time has come: the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in return for demilitarization of Hamas.

 

Britain, France, and Germany have now proposed a plan. Gazans would not just get emergency humanitarian assistance, but long-term and large-scale economic development, as well as much greater freedom to trade and travel. Hamas, on the other hand, would get disarmed.

 

The Israeli government andopposition are in favor of the idea, so too the United States, and the policy would likely attract support from regional Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.

 

Crucially, it also offers a framework to re-establish the authority of those Palestinians who oppose terror, recognize Israel, and want to negotiate a two-state solution—the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas.

 

I interviewed six Israeli and American policy experts this week—Matthew Levitt, Michael Herzog, Gershon Baskin, Jonathan Spyer, Jonathan Rynhold, and Asher Susser—

[Cyber_Liberty]

What if Hamas lies about being "demilitarized?" I know it's difficult to contemplate, but the nice folks who weren't supposed to have and hide ballistic missiles in their schools might not be 100% truthful on the subject. Maybe I'm just being too cynical....

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Via iOTW

[Valin]

What if Hamas lies about being "demilitarized?" I know it's difficult to contemplate, but the nice folks who weren't supposed to have and hide ballistic missiles in their schools might not be 100% truthful on the subject. Maybe I'm just being too cynical....

 

Oh they would never lie! Just ask them, they'll tell you.