With each new round of cease-fire negotiations regarding ending the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, an Israeli-created dilemma emerges that transcends the technical details of the agreements on the table. At its core, this dilemma touches on the very nature of Palestinian decision-making. Any observer or follower to the course of the negotiations would notice how the issue of Palestinian resistance weapons becomes one of the most prominent obstacles to reaching a deal, pushing to question it: why doesn’t the Hamas simply decide to relinquish the resistance weapons to end the war and alleviate the immense humanitarian suffering in Gaza, and to prevent Israel from using it as a pretext to resume its deadly and destructive attacks on Gaza?

This question may appear logical and gives an impression that all terms of the cease-fire agreement and phases were fully implemented by Israel, and only this particular issue remains unsolved. But this is clearly untrue, as Israel didn’t commit to any of its cease-fire terms as it continues its daily violations and attacks against Gaza, killing more than one thousand Palestinians since Oct.11, 2025, the day of signing the cease-fire.

Moreover, this logic is also built upon a deeply flawed assumption that Hamas alone possesses the authority to make such a decision, and that its refusal to do so is a sign of intransigence or political procrastination. This assumption, however, is not only inaccurate and it plays directly into a broader Israeli strategy that extends far beyond the narrow goal of disarmament. The Israeli demand to disarm Hamas is not about security. It is about the complete subjugation of the Palestinian people and the systematic liquidation of their national cause.

Israeli meaning of disarmament

The international discourse surrounding Hamas's weapons has been carefully framed by Israeli and Western rhetoric as a simple equation: "Give up your arms, and peace will follow." This framing positions Hamas as the sole obstacle to stability and paints any refusal to disarm as a rejection of peace. It is a disingenuous narrative that conveniently ignores the reality of the occupation and relieves it of any responsibility toward implementing its obligations under the cease-fire, and diverts attention from addressing the core problem, which is the occupation and daily violations against the Palestinian people and territory.

What Israel demands is not merely the dismantling of a military wing. It demands the dismantling of the very concept of Palestinian resistance to occupation, a right protected under international law. The demand to disarm Hamas is a demand to render the Palestinian people defenseless in the face of ongoing daily aggression. It is a demand to transform Palestinians into a submissive population that accepts the occupation as an unchangeable fact. In this sense, the disarmament of Hamas is not a prelude to peace; it is a prelude to the complete subjugation of the Palestinian people.

By framing this equation on the issue of disarmament, Israel seeks a strategic trap for the Palestinians, leaving them with two options, both of which would significantly contribute to liquidating the Palestinian cause.

Option one: Hamas agrees to disarm. In this scenario, the movement's political and military authority would be effectively destroyed, robbing the Palestinian cause of its most powerful and widely supported resistance component. Hamas would be portrayed as having surrendered, both to its own people and to the wider Arab and Muslim world. More importantly, with Hamas neutered, Israel and its allies would find it significantly easier to impose a new, unilateral political order on Gaza and the West Bank.

Option two: Hamas refuses to disarm in the way Israel seeks to do so, and is subsequently branded as the obstructionist party. In this scenario, Israel would claim it maintains the right to fight against Hamas and would embark on a demonization campaign against the Palestinian resistance, using complicit international media, especially the pro-Israel Western media, to incite more against the Palestinians. And worse than that, Hamas will be portrayed as being more interested in its military agenda than in the welfare of the Palestinian people in Gaza. All this happens while the Israeli attacks continue, the blockade tightens, the Palestinian suffering deepens, and the goal of "breaking the spirit" of the Palestinian people inches closer to reality.

Not Hamas' decision

The underlying premise of the disarmament demand is that Hamas holds absolute and unilateral authority to decide the fate of the Palestinian right to resistance that extends over more than 70 years of struggle and confrontation of the occupation. This premise is as dangerous as it is false. The issue of Palestinian arms has never been a matter of a single Palestinian party. It is a foundational principle that protects the national identity, a symbol of survival, and the legacy of tens of thousands of martyred patriots who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the national cause.

When Palestinian negotiators discuss the future of Gaza, the security management of the postwar period, including the issue of the resistance weapons, they are touching on the very spine of the Palestinian national project for liberation. These are not matters that can be decided by a single faction, regardless of its size, influence or role in the resistance. They are, by definition, national issues that require a broad national consensus.

While Hamas’s leadership gave decisions on certain issues, such as the prisoner exchange and the cease-fire with Israel, it put the issue of the arms of the resistance on the table of national dialogue with most of the Palestinian groups, and came collectively with approaches and ideas on how to deal with the arms in a way that doesn’t appear as relinquishing such a scared right of resistance, including storing or freezing the heavy arms under the supervision of neutral parties, but not under the Israeli parameters, which are to serve its expansionist agenda and kill the Palestinian national spirit.

Asking right questions

The question should never be: "Why won't Hamas disarm?" The correct question, the question that Israel and the international community refuse to ask, is: "Why is a nation being asked to surrender its right to self-defense without receiving a single guarantee of its freedom?"

Israel's demand to disarm Hamas is an old demand dressed in new clothes. It is the same demand of liquidation, submission and surrender. The weapons of the resistance are not the cause of the conflict; they are a symptom of the occupation. As long as the occupation exists, the right to resist exists. As long as the Palestinian people are denied their fundamental rights, their right to return, right to self-determination, and right to live in a sovereign state, they will continue to resist. The question of disarmament is not a security issue. It is a question of national survival.

The day Palestinian arms are laid down will not be the day Israel feels secure. It will be the day the Palestinian people have achieved their freedom. Until that day, the demand to disarm will remain precisely what it has always been: a demand for surrender, not a demand for peace.

More than that, the disarmament of the Palestinian resistance wouldn’t be only liquidating the Palestinian national cause, but would be a red flag to the entire region, as expansionist Israel would be emboldened to move to disarm others, including countries, until it put the entire region under its hegemony.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance, values or position of Daily Sabah. The newspaper provides space for diverse perspectives as part of its commitment to open and informed public discussion.

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