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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has submitted a document on the management of Gaza after the war to the war cabinet for approval, with the aim of installing “local officials” not affiliated with terrorism to administer the Strip in place of Hamas. According to the plan presented by Netanyahu, after the war Israel should control security in a demilitarized Gaza Strip and will have a role in civil affairs.
Netanyahu’s insistence on an indefinite Israeli role in managing Gaza is at odds with US proposals for an autonomous Palestinian government that would eventually govern both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a premise for statehood. The plan also calls for the closure of the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and its replacement with another unspecified international aid group. And he reiterates that Israel is determined to eliminate Hamas. The plan provides freedom of action for the Israeli military in Gaza and the West Bank after the war to thwart any security threats, and says Israel will establish a buffer zone inside Gaza. The plan also calls for Gaza to be governed by local officials who “will not be identified with countries or entities that support terrorism.” It is unclear whether the Palestinians would accept such “city manager” roles. Over the past few decades, Israel has repeatedly tried and failed to establish hand-picked Palestinian local governing bodies.
On the same day, the Israeli government submitted to the Supreme Commission a plan for the construction of 3,300 new settler homes in the West Bank (see opening article). The PNA has already rejected Israel’s post-war plan. “Gaza will only be part of the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and any plan to the contrary is doomed to failure,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. “The plans proposed by Netanyahu have only the objective of perpetuating Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and aim to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state,” he concluded.
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute finds that the majority of Israeli citizens – both Jews and Arabs – do not believe that an “absolute victory” in the war with Hamas in Gaza is possible. 51% of Jewish and 77.5% of Israeli Arabs surveyed believe there is a low probability that the war will end with such a victory.