So here is an interesting thing. Let me quote the lede:
A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.
Now let me get to the interesting part of it. Like you, when I read that I thought "dude is lying." That's what you thought too, right? It's just bullshit. And that's the interesting part - our reaction to news like this.
We respond that way because Hamas is a terrorist organization. They don't know anything other than the threats or use of violence. They have no respect for laws or civilian life - as was made very clear on October 7th. So this claim is an obvious lie. They are The Bad Guys, there is no way they could possibly be on the side of peace and de-escalation. It's just not credible.
Until you actually think about it - which you should whenever your beliefs are based around "those guys are Evil and they will Do Evil because they Are Evil" and literally nothing more.
Obviously, a sovereign Palestinian State and an end to the bombing would be an immense benefit to Palestinians. But, as I have noted before (despite people pretending otherwise in order to further their racist dreams of genocide) - Hamas is not Palestine and Palestine is not Hamas.
Now a big part of the reason Hamas exists is to oppose the occupation - Hamas literally stands for Islamic Resistance Movement - so presumably, they would not be necessary if Palestine existed as a sovereign state. Certainly, this would impact their appeal as a movement. So it does make sense - a Palestinian state is essentially "Mission Accomplished" for them and they could pack up their guns afterwards. But this of course is the "haha, were you born yesterday?" take. It's wildly naive to think that terrorists would just give up on violence once they started getting their demands agreed to. If this is your view, I know this Nigerian prince who really wants to do a business deal.
But once again - we are back to the initial problem. Hamas will Do Evil because they Are Evil. Which is just as naive if not more so.
So what is the non-naive way to think about this then? How do we think about this realistically? Simple - we assume that Hamas will act in its own self-interest. We assume that they are selfish and that they will do what's best for Hamas. So obviously, laying down their arms and giving up their power is the opposite of what's best for Hamas. Right?
Wrong. They are offering that as an exchange - in return for giving up their arms, they would get a sovereign Palestinian state - a new nation where they are far and away the single most popular movement. They are asking for a country where they will easily be swept into power in free and fair elections. Their country - which they would be in charge. A country that would no longer be under occupation and siege.
The deal they are putting forward is that they will stop being terrorists and give up violence if they are legitimized as the actual leaders of the country - with all that this entails, like being able to make treaties with Iran for example. This would move them out of being internationally recognized as criminals - with the responsibility of "governing" a territory where their enemy controls the borders and all foreign relations - to being a legitimate government. It's a fucking massive boon to them - of course it's a serious offer on their part!
It's like a bank robber saying "I'll stop robbing banks if you just give me everything inside the bank and then expunge my criminal record". And our response is "Bullshit. What do you get out of this? Obviously you are only interested in pointing guns at people. This is not a serious offer."
Come on. Who is being naive here? It's a farcically ludicrous position - a child's "cops and robbers" view of the world. And yet it is the one we all assume. And to me, that's the interesting part of it.
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