Egypt Daily News – As the second round of negotiations on the Gaza ceasefire began, questions arose about Israeli attempts to impose the so-called “Tunisian model” on Hamas, which refers to the exile of its leaders in exchange for ending the war in Gaza.
Tel Aviv is referring to the events of 1982, when PLO leader Yasser Arafat was deported to Tunisia with thousands of members of armed Palestinian factions during the First Lebanon War after the 88-day security and military siege imposed by Israel on Beirut.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted senior Israeli officials as saying that Tel Aviv is ready to accept the continued survival of Hamas, but outside the Gaza Strip. They added: “In light of US President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer Gazans to Jordan and Egypt, one of the proposals being discussed between Israel and the new US administration is to apply the “Tunisian model” of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in other words, expelling some or all senior Hamas officials from the Gaza Strip.”
According to the same source, the Israeli leadership considers that the Tunisian scenario may “constitute a solution to stop the fighting within the framework of negotiations on the second phase of the agreement, without denying Hamas’ ability to govern in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation indicated that this proposal will be discussed between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at the White House, along with other topics that will be on the table, including the security situation in Gaza, hostages and the confrontation with the Iranian axis.
To what extent can Israel succeed in applying this model to Hamas? Could this step lead to a change in the dynamics of the conflict in the region?
Two different circumstances
University professor, historian and political activist Riad Merabet said that the circumstances of the war in Gaza and the First Lebanon War and the exit of the Palestine Liberation Organization from Beirut to Tunisia are completely different and cannot be compared.
He explained: “First, the PLO in the Beirut war was on the territory of another country other than the Palestinian territories. Despite the real solidarity and organic link between Lebanon, Palestine and the entire Levant, the Palestinian presence in Beirut was like a resistance movement in the territory of a member state of the United Nations.”
Merabet emphasized that this situation contrasts with the current situation in Gaza, adding: “Hamas is a resistance movement in the land on which it has existed for thousands of years, and therefore has the legitimate right guaranteed by international laws to fight the occupation.”
“The degree of maturity of Hamas and the Palestinian national resistance in general is different from what it was at the time of the first Lebanon war,” Merabet said. “The resistance today is more mature than before and understands the political mind of Israel, which imagines that the sacrifices made by the Palestinians can be the arm that hurts Hamas and ignores the mentality of the Palestinian people who believe in the continuity of the resistance,” he said.
Merabet believes that Israel’s call to repeat the Tunisian experience is tantamount to “bullying” the minds of the world, saying, “There is not a single country that will accept to offer its head on a golden platter to Israel’s strikes.”
The speaker said that this call ignores the fact that Tunisia paid a high price in the blood of its citizens and its security and political elements for receiving the leaders of the Palestinian resistance, and the proof is the operation in Hammam al-Shat (Tunisia), in which the Israeli Air Force targeted the headquarters of the General Command of the Palestine Liberation Organization, killing dozens of Palestinians.
