On Thursday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) stated that as long as the military wing of Hamas exists, there won’t be a ceasefire and the Palestinian people won’t have a future.
Bera said Hamas is “not a single entity. There’s a political wing of Hamas, which we’re negotiating with, that I actually think would take a ceasefire, and then there’s the military wing of Hamas, which is led by Sinwar, who has no motivation to accept a ceasefire. So, you can’t get to a ceasefire without the military wing agreeing on this. We do have to — long-term, you’re either going to have a constant state of war in the Middle East, or you’ll have an autonomous Palestinian state. We’ve got to find new leadership for who leads the Palestinians. That’s probably with a modernized Palestinian Authority. But, again, none of this is going to be easy. And that’s why we continue to work around the clock with the Arab states trying to get to a ceasefire, trying to get the hostages released, and really trying to avert a humanitarian crisis.”
Later he added, “[T]here is no future for the Palestinian people as long as Hamas is governing, and as long as there’s a military wing of Hamas. … I don’t think the military wing of Hamas is ever going to surrender. So, Israel doesn’t have a choice other than to go after the military wing of Hamas.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
