Gazans reject Israel's calls to disarm
Gaza's factions appear to be united in rejecting Israel's demand that the area should become a weapons-free zone.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinians believe it's necessary that the Palestinian resistance remains armed as long as the Israeli occupation persists in the Palestinian territories. They are convinced that the resistance's disarmament will lead to further losses of their rights.
Cease-fire talks between the resistance in the Gaza Strip and Israel, under the auspices of Egypt, collapsed multiple times before both parties reached an agreement on Aug. 26. A Palestinian source familiar with these talks told Al-Monitor that they had repeatedly failed because of "Israel's insistence on disarming Gaza."
"The disarmament of the resistance is completely rejected by us, and it was the reason talks faltered multiple times. The agreement was made after the scrapping of the Israeli demand to remove these weapons," said the source, who was a member of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo.
During a news conference Aug. 28, Hamas political bureau head Khaled Meshaal said: "The resistance and its weapons are sacred, given that they are the icon of the people, the shield that protects them and their path to liberation. There is no room to bring them into the circle of internal political [discussions], because there are no politics without a resistance and its weapons."
