"Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007. Now, for the first time, its hold on power feels as if it may be nearing an end. This fall's ceasefire is part of Donald Trump's broader peace plan that calls for phasing out Hamas' control of Gaza in which power in Gaza would first go to a temporary governing body, before eventually going to the Palestinian Authority-the body that governs in the West Bank."
"But even if some semblance of a ceasefire holds going forward, there's a chasm between a peace plan calling for Hamas' exit and it actually happening: Israel says Hamas must disarm or risk collapse of the truce. Hamas insists that it accepts the ceasefire phase but that to transition out of power in Gaza, it cannot yet commit to an immediate disarmament."
"Still, amid the ceasefire and peace plan, I wondered what Gaza would look like if Hamas' nearly two decades in power came to a close. So I called Tareq Baconi, the author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance and the new memoir Fire in Every Direction, as well as the president of the board at Palestinian Policy think tank Al Shabaka."
Hamas has governed Gaza since 2007, and a recent ceasefire is linked to a US-backed peace plan that envisions phasing out Hamas control and transferring authority first to a temporary governing body and later to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The ceasefire remains extremely fragile after Israeli strikes reportedly killed more than 100 people in Gaza following militants' killing of an Israeli soldier. Israel conditions the truce on Hamas disarmament, while Hamas accepts the ceasefire phase but refuses immediate disarmament as a transition requirement. Complete removal of Hamas appears unlikely because organizational networks would likely persist even if officially dismantled.
Read at Slate Magazine
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