The day-after plan for Gaza on Israeli leaders’ desks
The researchers argue that “the window of opportunity for transformation and rehabilitation is short,” meaning a few years. As such, the work towards changing Gazan society must start immediately after Hamas’ defeat.Netanyahu said set to offer new stance on Palestinian state in speech to Congress
This “requires civilian management, and the urgency of the timeline means that we must immediately start planning and establishing an effective and agreed-upon system for managing the Palestinian population in areas under Israeli control,” the paper states. The local governing apparatus in this initial stage would need to build trust with the local population and treat them in a dignified manner, which is necessary for the rehabilitation of Gaza to succeed. The paper suggests partnering with moderate Arab states.
The authors of the paper describe a delicate balance by which “successful transformation requires the creation of a positive horizon for the defeated nation,” while “the option of Israeli military rule must float in the background.”
Independence of some kind – avoiding the political debates about Palestinian statehood, the paper says only “an autonomous Palestinian entity” – would come only when concrete and measurable goals are met, including education for peace, distancing itself from violence and terror and effective governance.
However, if Israel makes clear that it will leave Gaza at some point regardless of its progress — similar to the U.S. setting a date to leave Afghanistan — Gazans will have less of an incentive to come up with an alternative to Hamas. As such, the goals Gazans need to meet must not have a rigid schedule attached to them.
Physical rehabilitation of Gaza is not enough; the paper calls to build its spirit as well by “eradicating jihadist ambitions” through overhauling the education, religion and media systems, including reforming the schools’ curriculum.
This would include “purifying the education system” of extremist educators and current textbooks, and establishing bodies to supervise school content and media to ensure they do not include radical content.
In that vein, the authors call to “take advantage of the acts of rebuilding to push UNRWA out of the [Gaza] Strip,” referring to the embattled U.N. body responsible for aid to Palestinians. According to Makor Rishon, they were told by the IDF higher brass that this is unrealistic.
The new narrative created for the Palestinians in Gaza would “lean on Sunni Muslim Arab tradition … in its moderate versions in education and culture and grant the Palestinians a concrete, positive vision to latch onto for demilitarized Palestinian self-rule at the end of the process.”
“It would be very bad for Israel to do that directly,” Barak-Corren said on Senor’s podcast, and suggested that the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Egypt be involved.
The paper discourages Israel’s leadership from setting a goal of democratization for Gaza, saying that this is “a move that has failed in every place it was tried in the Arab world. The goal should not be turning Gaza into a Western democracy, but an Arab-Muslim entity that is moderate and not jihadist.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present a new position on Palestinian statehood during his speech in Washington in July that will allow normalization with Saudi Arabia to progress, according to a Tuesday evening report.Netanyahu: Allowing PA to collapse not in Israel's interest
Senior aides to the Israeli leader have told the White House that Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress will contain elements that back United States President Joe Biden’s grand vision for the Middle East, Channel 13 news reported.
That plan includes a ceasefire-for-hostages deal to end the fighting in Gaza, a diplomatic solution for the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, a pathway toward a Palestinian state, and diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Jerusalem.
Biden’s Middle East vision takes on additional urgency as presidential elections loom in November. According to a Tuesday New York Times poll, Republican challenger Donald Trump leads Biden in seven key swing states, and would triumph by 312 electoral votes to Biden’s 226 according to the current polling.
Engineering a Saudi-Israel normalization deal would be a diplomatic masterstroke, one that could blunt criticism of Biden’s policies in Gaza and in Ukraine.
The Prime Minister’s Office pushed back on the report in comments to The Times of Israel, saying that Netanyahu “opposes a Palestinian state and will not change his position in his address to Congress.”
At the same time, the PMO response did leave some maneuvering space for Netanyahu to offer rhetorical support for a vague process that leads toward increased Palestinian autonomy short of a state.
Last month, the US and Saudi Arabia discussed a “semi-final” version of wide-ranging security agreements between the countries. The agreements are considered a major part of Washington’s efforts to bring Riyadh around to recognizing Israel for the first time. Saudi Arabia and the US have been clear that movement toward Palestinian statehood is a condition for an agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed a surprising stance in closed-door discussions, stating that the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) was not in Israel's interest at that time. This revelation came ahead of a crucial cabinet meeting that approved a series of sanctions against Palestinian officials and countries that recognized a Palestinian state.Negotiating with Hamas Can’t Work
In a confidential conversation reported by N12, Netanyahu emphasized the importance of the PA's activities for Israel, despite his usual public criticism of the organization. "We cannot ignore the activities and actions of the PA; they have significant benefits for Israel," Netanyahu said, as cited by N12.
He further elaborated on the potential consequences of the PA's collapse. "The collapse of the Palestinian Authority is not in Israel's interest at this time. There is a need to promote actions that stabilize the Authority to prevent escalation in the area," he added, according to N12. The collapse of the PA
The cabinet convened to finalize sanctions that targeted Palestinian officials and implemented economic measures against the PA. Additionally, the sanctions extended to countries that had formally recognized a Palestinian state, N12 reported. This came amidst a backdrop of a severe financial crisis for the PA, which had seen a drastic reduction in clearance revenue transfers and a significant drop in economic activity. The World Bank warned that the PA's fiscal situation had "dramatically worsened," with a financing gap projected to double to $1.2 billion within months.
According to the report, during the discussion, ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich pushed for increased Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, aligning with their longstanding political agendas. This development followed previous cabinet decisions to penalize the PA for its support of terror and actions against Israel on the international stage.
I SERVED ON TWO PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION TEAMS in Iraq and Afghanistan, which provided hundreds of millions of dollars in projects throughout Diyala, Kapisa, and Parwan. Some of my troops paid the ultimate price to give reconstruction projects to Iraqis and Afghans. It was important work, and I’m very proud of what we did. I remember those smiling Afghan children’s faces very well.
However, most of the time, it didn’t work. In Afghanistan, the Taliban intimidated our contractors, took our money, and then used it to kill our troops. In Iraq, it was a little bit different. When I served in 2010 in Diyala, the surge provided stability, which allowed some of our reconstruction projects to do some actual good. But all that good went out the window when we voluntarily left, allowing the Islamic State to destroy all that we had built.
This is the second reason to greet Hamas’s overtures with suspicion: If they aren’t using misdirection to gain time to rearm and improve their military odds in the current conflict, they are trying to secure an agreement that will make it possible for them to prepare to launch the next one. War with Israel is the only reason they exist. Count on it: If Hamas were to sign any deal allowing them to survive, they will take all the reconstruction money and turn it into a way to kill more Jews. They will rebuild their army. They will also emerge from the tunnels as conquering heroes among the jihadist community—both al Qaeda and the Taliban have already praised Hamas for their October 7, 2023 pogrom—and they will attack again.
Americans want quick fixes, and our enemies are counting on us to play to type. That’s because jihadists don’t have the same conception of time that we do. There’s an old Pashtun proverb, “The Pashtun who took revenge after a hundred years said, ‘I took it too quickly.’” The Taliban’s patience, combined with resilience, persistence, and willingness to die, made them formidable opponents. Hamas takes a similarly long view. They don’t need a first-world military to defeat the West. Instead, aided by their deep study of Western values, they will continue their cynical guerrilla war until we grow tired, relent, and retreat.
We’ve seen scenes like this play out before, and we’ll see them again. Since the Israeli government removed every Israeli from Gaza at gunpoint in 2005, Israel and Hamas have fought major battles in 2008–2009, 2012, 2014, and now since October 7, with sporadic rocket fire and airstrikes in between. The result of every previous ceasefire has been more terrorism. There’s a reason governments don’t negotiate with terrorists.
And if you think what Hamas did in Gaza is shocking, wait until the world sees what is in store in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and al Qaeda are building a similar terror state.
WAR IS A HIDEOUS THING. I’ve experienced it up close and personal. The trauma that it inflicts scars generations. I bear those scars. But sometimes the enemy must be killed, especially when the enemy repeatedly tells you he just wants to kill you. The destruction of Hamas, pursued while striving to minimize civilian deaths, is the only realistic hope of preventing many more civilian deaths in the future. If Hamas can be defeated, the prospect of a future peace, however distant, may become real once more.