Palestinians: Why Hamas Will Not Disarm

by Khaled Abu Toameh • March 26, 2018 at 5:00 am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wants to extend his authority to the Gaza Strip, while Hamas is seeking to take over the West Bank.
Abbas is fortunate to have Israel sitting with him in the West Bank. Otherwise, Hamas would have succeeded in its effort to topple his regime and "transfer" its weapons to the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Abbas will continue to dream of returning to the Gaza Strip, while Hamas will continue to prepare for war against Israel and removing the Palestinian Authority from power.

Pictured: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas talks with then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on April 5, 2007 in Gaza City. Since 2007, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have announced at least four "reconciliation" agreements to end their rivalry. (Photo by Mohamed Alostaz/PPM via Getty Images)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is living in an illusion if he thinks that his rivals in Hamas would ever agree to lay down their weapons or cede control over the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has no intention of dismantling its military and security apparatus. It also does not have any intention of allowing Abbas's security forces to be stationed in the Gaza Strip. This refusal is why the "reconciliation" deal that Abbas signed with Hamas in Cairo in October 2017 will never be translated into facts on the ground.

Hamas is prepared to give Abbas anything he wants in the Gaza Strip except for security control. Hamas has no problem allowing Abbas and his government to function as a "civil administration" in the Gaza Strip by providing funds and various services to government institutions there.

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"Supply and Demand" in Mass Migration
A Conversation with former Czech President Václav Klaus

by Grégoire Canlorbe • March 26, 2018 at 4:00 am

"Mass migration also has the effect of changing the objectives of migrants. The goal is no longer to assimilate to the new world, but to strengthen one's old way of life... What is new with mass migration... often is the wish to extend one's home world to one's host country and to transform it gradually according to one's own tradition." — Václav Klaus, former President of the Czech Republic.
"As an economist, I always try to analyze a given situation in terms of supply and demand. The demand for mass migration does not come from the ordinary citizens, but from the European officials. The supply in mass migration, which comes from the migrants, exists only as a result of this policy intended to change the structure of the European society." — Václav Klaus.
"I am convinced that the solution [for the Israel-Palestine conflict] could not come from abroad: not from the United Nations Security Council, or I do not know who else. It must be the result of negotiations... It was my job to manage the split [of Czechoslovakia] and I understood that it was necessary to negotiate, not to ratify the decision from Brussels or somewhere else." — Václav Klaus.

Václav Klaus, former President of the Czech Republic. (Image source: European Parliament / Pietro Naj-Oleari)

Václav Klaus is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second President of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. He also served as the second and last Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, federal subject of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, from July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, and as the first Prime Minister of the newly-independent Czech Republic from 1993 to 1998. He is known for his euroscepticism, denial of man-caused global warming, opposition to mass immigration, and support of free market capitalism.

Grégoire Canlorbe: People are often defined by a common worldview rather than by genetics or where they live. In view of the situation in the Czech Republic, do you agree?

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