Egyptian Media Figure: We Must Remove Hamas From The Picture, Lay The Groundwork For Regional Peace Based On Shared Interests

Memri

02-04-2025

In his February 17, 2025 column in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat , titled 'The Palestinian Cause – Recovery or Collapse?', Egyptian media figure Khaled Al-Berry wrote that it was a mistake on the part of the moderate Arab countries to tolerate the extremism of Hamas, a movement that serves the interests of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood and undermines the pursuit of peace, using Palestine merely as a tool to expand its influence in the region. Al-Berry called on the moderate countries to formulate a plan for sidelining Hamas, promoting a discourse of peace and strengthening cooperation through joint economic and security projects with Israel.
Khaled Al-Bari (X.com/khaledalberry)
The following are translated excerpts from his article: [1]
'In our neighborhood there is a building called 'Egypt,' and beside it there is another building inhabited by the 'Israel' family and the 'Palestine' family, who are fighting for ownership of the building. The Israel family once [also] took over a floor in the Egypt building, but Egypt later freed it and signed a peace agreement with that family, creating the current situation. Now the Israel family, with the support of the Americans, wants to evict the Palestine family from the building and expel them to the floor [in the Egypt building] that Egypt previously freed. This would mean the reoccupation of our Egypt building and the destruction of the foundation on which the peace agreement was built. The Egyptians, along with the other supporters of peace, therefore agree that this action, if taken, will undermine the achievements of peace and take us back to the situation before [the peace agreement]... not to mention that it is a crime to expel a people from their land.
'The involvement of [U.S. President Donald] Trump has complicated the [power] balance, but nothing surprises us anymore when it comes to American foreign policy. Bush attacked Iraq and Obama supported the chaos [the reference is likely to the Arab Spring]. This is part of a game that must be taken into account in advance.
'This is the first lesson we [must learn] in handling the crisis. We must follow the growing political and cultural changes in the U.S. and in other strong and significant countries… [Soccer] teams do a so-called 'post-mortem' [of their losses], or an analysis after the fact, to discover the flaws. If we apply this to the Palestinian-Israeli issue we will discover that the main flaw was our tolerance of an element [i.e., Hamas] that used offensive rhetoric, adopted a negative conduct and received its orders from Iran, the resistance axis and the hostile Muslim Brotherhood organization. It started a civil war that weakened the Palestinians, tarnished the image of their cause and drove Fatah out of [the Gaza Strip]. Despite this, we did not neutralize this element and did not sever our ties with it, but trusted it to allow us to move ahead with the issue of peace, although we knew that its basic goal, since its inception, was to torpedo any chance of peace. Worse, figures in the academy and the media adopted its claims, so much so that [these claims] took over public opinion.
'This is not to say that Israel was not stubborn in the peace talks and has not worked to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. The world has condemned it for this. But political action has its own rules. You can always refuse a proposal, but at the same time you must work with what you have and be responsible. Resorting to terror only increases the extremism of the other side. Israel once supported Rabin, Peres and Ehud Barak, but today this camp within [Israel] has disappeared, while the voice of the opposing camp has grown stronger, a camp that says simply: 'Do you want a state controlled by Hamas as your neighbor? Read [this movement's] charter. Look what it has done to its [Palestinian] rivals.'
'The second flaw was failing to develop the idea of peace into plans that would permanently bind the interests of several sides. Egypt and Israel share economic and security interests that cannot all be listed here. And if we add to this the peace plans with the Gulf countries, the list will grow longer.
'The map shows us the moves of the regional forces. Turkey is present in Libya and is trying to inherit Iran's role as an influential [element] in Syria. Our southern borders are not stable, and the Nahda dam [Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam] constitutes a serious threat. Iranian militias [i.e., the Houthis] are targeting our economic interests at the mouth of the Red Sea…
'But [even] the worst crises also have advantages. The first [advantage of the present crisis] is that the public has witnessed with its own eyes the goal of certain well-known groups [in the resistance axis]. They said in the past that Palestine is just a toothpick that helps them to achieve their main goal, and now they have proved this in practice… [2]
'[Another advantage is that] the public saw that the moderate countries are the ones that safeguard the national interests, not the slogan-[spouting] countries and their allies. And the third advantage is that we have all realized how much this conflict – in the present circumstances and given Hamas' perception of it – can harm us.
'These advantages create the right climate to present a different proposal for the future that will ensure a better future for all sides. [This proposal] rests on three principles:
1. Media that strengthens the discourse of peace, [stresses] its importance for all and helps the public to understand the complexity of this conflict;
2. Removing 'Hamas' from the picture;
3. Tying peace to economic and strategic interests.'
[1] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), February 17, 2025.
[2] The reference is to a remark made by Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, who said that Palestine was just a 'toothpick' and that Hamas' plan went far beyond Palestine. A video of his remarks was leaked to Al-Arabiya and aired in June 2019 (X.com/AlArabiya, June 11, 2019).