Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, the Deputy Chair of Hamas in Gaza, recently stated in an interview with the Associated Press that the terror group is willing to agree to a five-year cease-fire with Israel.
Saying that Israel is unable to defeat Hamas, al-Hayya said Hamas would agree to lay down its arms in exchange for a "fully sovereign" Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and the return of Palestinian refugees.
"We have repeatedly offered the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the return of refugees in accordance with international resolutions that have emerged in this regard," al-Hayya told the AP.
"We will live in a state and establish and agree on a cease-fire and a truce of five years or more in order to live in security," al-Hayya continued.
He appeared to claim that Hamas would dissolve its military wing if these conditions were met.
"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," al-Hayya said.
In the interview, al-Hayya claimed that Hamas wants to join the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), whose governing Palestinian Authority is considered the legitimate representative of the Palestinians by the international community. The two groups would then establish a unified Palestinian government for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
There have been many attempts to create a unity government between the PA and Hamas, including meetings in Turkey, Russia, and China since the Gaza War started.
However, many experts are not convinced by al-Hayya's declaration. The word al-Hayya used for truce, hudnah in Arabic, is often used to denote a temporary cessation of hostilities for the purpose of building strength in order to resume fighting.
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies research fellow Hussain Abdul-Hussain said that al-Hayya was only stating what Hamas has already declared, that it plans to use the creation of a Palestinian state in the '67 borders to create a stronger resistance movement.
Some commentators in Israeli media suggested that the timing of the interview, and al-Hayya's statements, are meant to counter the image of Hamas rejecting recent cease-fire proposals.
His comments also come amid growing signs of an impending Israeli incursion into Rafah and after a failed attempt to gain recognition of a Palestinian state in the U.N. Security Council.
Notably, al-Hayya refused to say whether accepting a sovereign Palestinian state would truly bring peace between Israel and Hamas. Although asked, he refused to say whether the two-state solution would be the end of the conflict, or whether it was only an interim step toward the ultimate goal of destroying the state of Israel.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, al-Hayya repeated his claims that Hamas is interested in a cease-fire and the release of the hostages, but only with a total cease-fire and full IDF withdrawal from all parts of the Gaza Strip.
"We are leading serious talks, and among our demands is a permanent cease-fire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza," al-Hayya told Al Jazeera Arabic in a televised interview.
Republished with permission from All Israel News.