London, Ioannis Chaniotakis

A plan to disarm her Hamas based on the Iraq experience in 2003 suggests Hamish de Breton-Gordon, a British chemical weapons expert and former army officer. He argues that the most effective method for collecting Hamas weapons is to offer cash, a strategy that has proven successful in the past.

He emphasizes that the biggest mistake after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 was the absence of a plan for “the next day”. The disbandment of the Iraqi army and police created a power vacuum that the militias filled, leading to a bloody insurgency. “This must not be allowed to happen to Gauze“, he warns in his article in the newspaper “The i Paper”.

To avoid this scenario, both the United Nations and Donald Trump’s peace plan call for the creation of an international stabilization force. This force will be tasked with maintaining the ceasefire, launching the humanitarian operation and training a new Palestinian police force to replace Hamas.

The big question, according to the expert, is the willingness of Hamas to hand over its weapons. Here, he draws on his personal experience in Iraq, where he was involved in the recovery of chemical weapons. “People who delivered rockets and shells with chemical weapons got a fee and we blew them up in the desert. That pretty much did the job.”

He proposes the implementation of a similar model in Gaza. With a few thousand active Hamas fighters, armed mostly with AK47s, pistols and RPGs, he reckons money is the answer. “For a few thousand dollars, the guns could be turned in, or citizens could turn them in for cash.”

This approach is far preferable to “search and destroy” operations, which, he explains, are complex, time-consuming and extremely dangerous. “We’ve been doing operations like this in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan for years and we’ve only ‘scratched the surface’,” he says, noting that the process in Northern Ireland took more than 10 years. “If we want to do it as quickly as possible, cash is the most efficient method.”

De Breton-Gordon points out that the weapons that will be collected must be destroyed immediately by the international force, so that they do not fall into the hands of other groups such as the Islamic State, Hezbollah or the Houthis.

As he explains, the presence of a third force is already imperative, as violence breaks out in areas where Israeli forces have withdrawn. Such a force could protect the people of Gaza, disarm Hamas and ensure the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid.

Finally, he underlines that the West, led by the US, can play a decisive role not so much with troops, but with the provision of know-how. He cites his experience in Kosovo as an example, where British experts helped restart a power station.

“Our expertise, rather than a substantial military presence, could make a significant difference and hasten the peace that ordinary Gazans so deserve.”

This, he concludes, will reduce instability in the Middle East and allow the world to focus on other challenges, such as the war in Ukraine.