Hamas official: Disarming resistance now would cause widespread chaos in Gaza

A senior Hamas figure has warned that immediate disarmament of resistance groups in Gaza, in the absence of an independent Palestinian state or a governing Palestinian administration, would trigger a serious power vacuum and widespread disorder across the territory. Dr Abd al-Jabbar Said, a member of Hamas’s political bureau abroad, told Arabi21 that Hamas does not insist on keeping weapons for their own sake. He said the weapons are linked to the presence of occupation and to Palestinians’ legitimate right to resist it. If Palestinians ever achieve a sovereign, independent state that protects their rights, those weapons would be handed over to the new state and its army. At that point, he said, there would be no justification for keeping […]