“Hamas” has shown a willingness to give up its heavy weapons,” and Washington is willing to accept such an agreement, Palestinian-American mediator Bishara Bahbah, head of the “Arab Americans for Peace” Committee and one of the mediators in the Gaza Strip, told the “Ash Asharq Al-Awsat” newspaper. According to him, a compromise is possible in which the Palestinian Islamist organization retains its light weapons for self-defense, and hands over its heavy weapons to Egypt or a joint Egyptian-Palestinian body, BTA writes.
The draft UN resolution on the stabilization force in Gaza has been under discussion for two weeks, but there are disagreements on four points, Bahbah points out.
First, Israel opposes a full UN peacekeeping mandate, believing that the force should be deployed only with the approval of the Security Council. Tel Aviv rejects the inclusion in the resolution of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for the enclave, which is the basis of the current ceasefire, as this would give it UN status. Third, Israel objects to the participation of Turkish troops, and fourth, there is disagreement over whether the force's mission should include disarming Hamas, a clause opposed by Hamas and several other parties.
Possible participants in the stabilization force include Indonesia, which has offered 20,000 troops, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and potentially Egyptian and European units specializing in retraining Palestinian internal security forces. “Some 10,000 Palestinian officers have already been trained in Egypt and Jordan”, Bahbah added.
He expects the draft resolution to be presented to the Council “next week or the week after”, with the deployment of forces to begin immediately after approval.
Bahbah outlined discussions on forming a Gaza Administration Committee. “The Arab-Egyptian-Palestinian understanding is that it should consist of independent Palestinian figures selected by the Palestine Liberation Organization with consensus from all parties,” the mediator explained. “But now there is a proposal for the US to have a role in nominating these names, which is very difficult to impose on the Palestinians.“
There is no Palestinian representation on the Peace Council, headed by Trump, but “there are now ideas to create an executive committee of the Council, made up of figures from different countries, including Palestinians, to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza,” Bahbah explains. The view is starting to take hold that this executive body should be created as a bridge between the Peace Council and the local administration, to ensure the progress of the reconstruction once security measures are in place, he adds.”