LONDON (Reuters) -Britain could take a leading role in helping to disarm Hamas in Gaza, based on its experience of encouraging militant groups in Northern Ireland to lay down their arms, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday.
Starmer told parliament that decommissioning the enclave would be vital if Donald Trump’s ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is to last, the first stage of the U.S. president’s 20-point framework to bring peace to the Palestinian enclave.
Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, was a chief architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which largely ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, working alongside former prime minister Tony Blair, who has been tipped for a role in Gaza.
Three European diplomats also said the Northern Ireland case was being cited as a possible future model for Gaza, although they noted there was no comprehensive plan in place.
“Of course, this is going to be difficult, but it’s vital. It was difficult in Northern Ireland in relation to the IRA (Irish Republican Army), but it was vital,” Starmer said.
“That is why we have said that we stand ready, based on our experience in Northern Ireland, to help with the decommissioning process. I’m not going to pretend that’s easy, but it is extremely important.”
The IRA, an overwhelmingly Catholic group seeking a united Ireland, said in 2005 it would formally end its armed struggle. It refused to dispose of its weapons in public but agreed to the presence of independent monitors, who after three months said it had put its weapons beyond use.
The Northern Ireland peace deal dealt with everything from reform of the police to the early release of paramilitary prisoners, the disarmament of paramilitary groups and the “normalisation” of security arrangements.
However, the IRA never governed Northern Ireland, unlike Hamas, which has been in control of Gaza since 2007 and has overseen all sectors of public life.
Powell was in Egypt on Monday for an international summit on Gaza, alongside Starmer. According to the BBC, he was there last week as the negotiations were being finalised.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff thanked Powell on X on Monday for his “incredible input and tireless efforts”.
In Gaza, Israeli officials have said any final settlement must permanently disarm Hamas.
Trump has also said he will establish a “Board of Peace” to oversee the governance of Gaza. He had initially suggested that Blair would serve on that, but he said on Sunday he needed to find out if that was an “acceptable choice to everybody”.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Elizabeth Piper, additional reporting by John Irish in Paris and Conor Humphries in Dublin, Writing by Kate Holton; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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