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Khaled Abu Toameh

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award winning Arab and Palestinian Affairs journalist formerly with The Jerusalem Post. He is Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and a Fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Think Abbas, who has been running the P.A. as an autocrat, intends to share power with his newly elected vice president, Hussein al-Sheikh? Think again.
WATCH: “Our Middle East” with Dan Diker and Khaled Abu Toameh
Now that the Trump administration is holding direct negotiations with Iran, it must demand that the mullahs immediately stop supporting Hamas’s attempts to unleash a new wave of terror against Israel from within Israel itself and from the West Bank.
Apparently, Witkoff believes that Hamas’s political activities are not as dangerous as its terrorism. Otherwise, how could he even consider the possibility that Hamas could be transformed into a political party?
The Qataris do not want the P.A. in Gaza to rein in Hamas and other terrorist groups, they seek to use it as cover to maintain Hamas’s hold on power.
The only deal that will actually bring peace is one in which Hamas ceases to exist.
A terror group committed to the elimination of Israel should have no role in any Palestinian government—not in the West Bank and certainly not in the Gaza Strip.
Under the current circumstances, handing the Gaza Strip over to the P.A. would not only be seen as a big reward to Iran and its terror proxies but most likely lead to a major war.