{"id":21545,"date":"2025-08-02T19:11:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T02:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/?p=21545"},"modified":"2025-08-02T19:25:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T02:25:20","slug":"hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
CREDIT: 2T0PMF9-scaled.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that Hamas\u2014the governing authority of the Gaza Strip, where only Palestinian live\u2014says it will lay down arms if a Palestinian state is created. From what I know, Hamas is not demanding it be located in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, thereby requiring Israel to pull back to 1967 borders.<\/p>\n

G7 Recognizing Palestine Will Create Momentum to Solve this Conflict<\/h2>\n

This Hamas announcement comes at a strategic time since the G7\u2014seven democratic nations that are among the wealthiest in the world\u2014will soon meet to seriously discuss announcing support of the creation of a Palestinian state, something neither they nor any of their individual member states have ever done even though 147 nations out of 193 UN member states have announced recognition of the State of Palestine, some of these announcements reaching back into the last century. G7 members France, UK, and Canada are now saying they will recognize the State of Palestine\u2014even though Palestinians do not have their own land in which to have a state\u2014in September at the meeting of the UN General Assembly.<\/p>\n

However, G7 member the U.S. has announced it will not participate in this G7 meeting since it is opposed to recognition of a Palestinian state, with which I strenuously disagree. The U.S. should have recognized a Palestinian state decades ago. And it should have punished Israel, its ally, for allowing unlawful Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which is along with the Gaza Strip \u201coccupied territory\u201d according the UN and thus according to international law. But we have a lot of foolish Americans who have no respect for the UN or international. Without them, this world would be worse. Is the UN perfect? Of course not. Are all those fools perfect in living their lives? I don\u2019t throw out the baby with with the bathwater, but they do.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is heavily involved in a program of eliminating anti-Semitism in U.S. institutions. I am very much against anti-Semitism. However, I believe that due to this U.S. history of failing to recognize a Palestinian state, the U.S. has for many years been anti-Palestinian. But our nation does not discuss that.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump argue that recognizing the State of Palestine now would reward Hamas\u2019s terrorism. Baloney! See my post<\/a> on this argument a few days ago.<\/p>\n

Hamas Is a Terrorist Organization Needing to Go<\/h2>\n

The U.S. has for a long time identified Hamas as a terrorist organization, with which I agree. Hamas is an armed, radical Islamic organization that advocates in its charter the annihilation of the State of Israel. As a Christian, I wholeheartedly support the existence of the State of Israel.<\/p>\n

However, I am a strong critic against Israel in its prolonged intransigence in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I insist that Palestinians are just as entitled to their own nation in The Levant as Jews are. That is loving your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19.18; cf. Matthew 5.44; Mark 12.31).<\/p>\n

Hamas has been governing the Gaza Strip ever since 2007. Hamas I have been saying various things since 1993 about laying down its arms against Israel if certain conditions were met. It then said it would do so if Israel returned to the 1967 borders, in which pretty much only Palestinians lived in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. It is these two separated territories where Palestinians have wanted to create a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

The State of Palestine Will Be in the Coastal Plain<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>I wrote a book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, published in 1990, entitled Palestine Is Coming: The Revival of Ancient Philistia<\/em>. In this book, I argue that a Palestinian state in the two separated territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has always been a non-starter for solving this conflict. I strongly support the concept of a two-state solution as the only way this conflict will ever be solved. But I argue that Palestinians have always been misguided in where they want their state to be. Why?<\/p>\n

First, it leaves Israel too vulnerable to defend itself.<\/p>\n

Second, religious Israeli Jews are adamant about their nation being located in \u201cJudea and Samaria,\u201d which surprisingly is where the West Bank is located. Thus, they will not relent from advocating for the complete annexation of the West Bank to Israel. Many of them live in Jewish settlements in the West Bank for this very reason. They feel that in doing so, they are obeying a biblical, divine commandment to secure possession of Eretz Yisrael.<\/p>\n

Third, this proposed Palestinian state is based solely on demographics, meaning that is where Palestinians have lived. I don\u2019t believe that is a good reason, though it would be the least costly initially. However, with this arrangement both nations would be most vulnerable security-wise and therefore in the long run it would prove the worst.<\/p>\n

Fourth, when Jews declared their nation in 1947, they did so in a two-page document that became their Proclamation of Independence. In it they argue their right to their \u201cancestral land,\u201d which is defined therein as Eretz Yisrael. Their ancestral land is not the so-called Promised Land, which many Bible believers are confused about. Rather, the Jews ancestral land is where their nation existed in antiquity. And that was alongside the nation of \u201cthe Philistines,\u201d from whom Palestinians derive their name.<\/p>\n

Israel Will Annex the West Bank and the State of Palestine Will Be a Very Expanded Gaza Strip<\/h2>\n

Finally, I believe there is now a good chance for momentum, spurred on by Israel\u2019s devastating war in Gaza that has resulted in over 60,000 Palestinian deaths, to snowball in support of the creation of a Palestinian state. But I maintain that there needs to be serious discussion on its location being somewhat other than the traditional two-state solution being in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I propose that nations recognizing a Palestinian state put on the table for negotiation that it be the Gaza Strip and a proposal for a land swap in which Israel will annex all of the West Bank in exchange for the Palestinian state becoming a very expanded Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms I\u2019ve been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that Hamas\u2014the governing authority of the Gaza Strip, where only Palestinian live\u2014says it will lay down arms if a Palestinian state is created. From what I know, Hamas is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1477,"featured_media":18719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,2660],"tags":[673,734,196,8636],"class_list":["post-21545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israeli-palestinian-conflict","category-politics","tag-banjamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-hamas","tag-traditional-two-state-solution"],"yoast_head":"\nHamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms I've been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms I've been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kermit Zarley Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-03T02:11:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-03T02:25:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/347\/2023\/11\/israel-on-outline-map-middle-east-with-egypt-syria-lebanon-jordan-and-saudi-arabia-israeli-and-palestinian-territories-gaza-and-west-bank-theme-2T0PMF9-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"644\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/\",\"name\":\"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-03T02:11:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-03T02:25:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02\"},\"description\":\"Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms I've been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/\",\"name\":\"Kermit Zarley Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02\",\"name\":\"Kermit Zarley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kermit Zarley\"},\"description\":\"Born & reared in Seattle, WA., Kermit lived 38 years in metro Houston, now in Scottsdale, AZ. He graduated from University of Houston w\/ BBA in 1963 and played on the PGA Tour full time from 1964-1982 and Senior\/Champions Tour in 1991-2001. Kermit co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study in 1965 and was senior leader most of next 17 years. Kermit has three adult children and six grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/kermitzarley.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/author\/kermitzarleyblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed","description":"Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms I've been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed","og_description":"Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms I've been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/","og_site_name":"Kermit Zarley Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley","article_published_time":"2025-08-03T02:11:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-03T02:25:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":644,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/347\/2023\/11\/israel-on-outline-map-middle-east-with-egypt-syria-lebanon-jordan-and-saudi-arabia-israeli-and-palestinian-territories-gaza-and-west-bank-theme-2T0PMF9-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kermit Zarley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kermit Zarley","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/","name":"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-08-03T02:11:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-03T02:25:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02"},"description":"Create Palestine and Hamas Lays Down Arms I've been saying this for a long time about Hamas and a Palestinian state. It is being reported today that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/hamas-will-lay-down-arms-if-palestinian-state-is-formed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hamas Will Lay Down Arms If Palestinian State Is Formed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/","name":"Kermit Zarley Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02","name":"Kermit Zarley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kermit Zarley"},"description":"Born & reared in Seattle, WA., Kermit lived 38 years in metro Houston, now in Scottsdale, AZ. He graduated from University of Houston w\/ BBA in 1963 and played on the PGA Tour full time from 1964-1982 and Senior\/Champions Tour in 1991-2001. Kermit co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study in 1965 and was senior leader most of next 17 years. Kermit has three adult children and six grandchildren.","sameAs":["http:\/\/kermitzarley.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/author\/kermitzarleyblog\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}