Hamas told Egypt and Jordan Tuesday that they reject the proposal by the two countries to send a multinational Arab peacekeeping force to restore order to Gaza.
Spokesmen for the Palestinian Authority terrorist group that now governs Gaza said Tuesday that such a move would only deepen divisions among Gaza Arabs. They said it signals an attempt by Egypt and Jordan to reassert control over Gaza and Judea-Samaria.
According to the proposal, an Arab security force headed by Egypt would be deployed in Gaza to enable the PA to “reconstruct” their police forces, long since torn apart by infighting between supporters of Hamas and those loyal to the Fatah terror group, as part of an Egypt-led effort to reconcile the warring terrorist factions. The Egyptian state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) earlier reported that the two factions, which currently control the PA in Gaza and Judea-Samaria respectively, will meet to discuss ways to end their years-long struggle, in which dozens of terrorists as well as civilians have been killed.
The peacekeeping initiative was proposed earlier this week to Hamas by Egypt and Jordan, and it is backed by the Fatah-led PA government in Ramallah and by Saudi Arabia. The Saudis told visiting PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that they would do everything in their power to convince Hamas to accept it.
PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, a key Fatah supporter of the initiative, issued a statement from Ramallah that he believes that the proposal would be the only solution for peace between his group and Hamas.
Speaking for Hamas’s opposition to the move, Ayman Taha, a spokesman for the terror group, said that “Hamas is capable of imposing law and order in the Gaza Strip and we don't need external forces here. The deployment of Arab troops would only serve to consolidate the split between the West Bank and Gaza."
Abbas's support for the idea showed that he was "not serious" about ending the ongoing power struggle between his faction and Hamas, according to Taha.
The Hamas spokesman also denied the Tuesday report published by MENA that Egypt has invited representatives of Hamas and Fatah to Cairo for reconciliation talks, as well as reports that Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was planning to visit Cairo to discuss a resolution to the conflict.
Several Hamas leaders fear that the latest proposal from Egypt and Jordan is nothing more than an attempt to restore the situation existing prior to1967, when Egypt ruled Gaza while Jordan possessed Judea and Samaria.
"This initiative is totally unacceptable," said Ismail al-Ashkar, a Hamas legislator in Gaza. "We need Palestinian national forces that would be able to defend the homeland, and not Arab armies."
He, like Taha, denied the report of an imminent dialogue between Hamas and Fatah in Egypt.
However, Nabil Amr, the PA’s envoy to Cairo, confirmed that representatives of various Palestinian terror factions would indeed be meeting in Egypt next week to discuss implementation of a "national reconciliation." Amr did not indicate whether Hamas would be one of the “factions” attending.