A senior Hamas official who previously advocated for the complete destruction of Israel has now claimed the terror group would lay down arms for a two-state solution.
Khalil al-Hayya said in an interview the Islamist terror group would dismantle its military wing, transform into a political party and agree to a five-year ceasefire with Israel if a Palestinian state was established along Israel’s pre-1967 borders. However, Al-Hayya also suggested in another interview this would be a temporary arrangement until the State of Israel is destroyed and that Hamas ultimately seeks to claim “all Palestinian lands”.
In an interview with the Associated Press published today, the head of the Qatar-based Hamas negotiating team said the terror group would lay down its weapons and dissolve its armed al-Qassam Brigades miliatry wing, in exchange for “a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions,” along Israel’s pre-1967 borders.
“All the experiences of people who fought against occupiers, when they became independent and obtained their rights and their state, what have these forces done? They have turned into political parties and their defending fighting forces have turned into the national army,” he said.
