Netanyahu releases first plan for post-war Gaza

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday released his most detailed proposal yet for a post-war Gaza, pledging to maintain military control of the enclave indefinitely while ceding control of civilian life to Gazans without ties with Hamas.

If the plan comes to fruition, it would make it virtually impossible to establish a Palestinian state encompassing Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, at least in the short term. That would likely accelerate a clash between Israel and a growing number of its foreign partners, including the United States, which are pushing for Palestinian sovereignty after the end of the war.

The blueprint for Gaza comes after nearly twenty weeks of war in the area and a death toll Gaza authorities estimate there are nearly 30,000 people, at least half of whom are women and children.

Netanyahu’s proposal for post-war Gaza was circulated to ministers and journalists early on Friday. He has laid out most of the terms of the proposal in previous public statements, but this was the first time they were collected in one document.

The proposal also calls for the dismantling of UNRWA, the UN agency charged with delivering the bulk of life-sustaining aid to the besieged region. And it calls for an overhaul of Gaza’s education and welfare systems, as well as buffer zones along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt.

The plan was circulated on the same day that American, Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials began negotiations in Paris over the release of hostages and a possible ceasefire.

It also came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “disappointed” by an Israeli announcement that it planned to build 3,000 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli settler this week. He called the settlements “contrary to international law.”

Mr. Blinken’s comments, as well as the contents of Friday’s post-war blueprint, brought into sharper focus the growing gap in expectations and policies between Mr. Netanyahu and the Biden administration over the occupied West Bank and the future of post-war Gaza.

Palestinians immediately condemned Netanyahu’s plan, with Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, saying it aimed to “perpetuate the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and promote the establishment of a Palestinian state.” prevent.”

Within Israel, the post-war plan received a muted response. Many of the central proposals are broadly in line with majority opinion in Israel, including making it difficult to create a Palestinian state in the short term, a position that polls show has broad domestic support.

Analysts described parts of the plan as carefully written to delay long-term decisions about Gaza’s fate and avoid irreversible confrontations with both domestic allies and foreign partners. The proposal signaled to Netanyahu’s right-wing base that he is defying foreign pressure on Israel to leave Gaza and allow a Palestinian state in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But the vagueness of the wording also signaled to the United States and other foreign powers pushing for Palestinian sovereignty that there is still room to maneuver.

“It leaves a lot of options open and postpones a lot of decisions,” said Nadav Strauchler, a former Netanyahu strategist.

“He is treading a fine line,” Mr. Strauchler said of the prime minister. “Think of how many different eyes and target groups read this newspaper with different glasses.”

Yet Netanyahu’s blueprint seems certain to irritate, if not anger, Israel’s neighbors and allies at some points.

It aims to establish an Israeli-controlled buffer zone along Gaza’s border with Egypt, a move that risks increasing tensions with the Egyptian government. That aspect of the plan would require Israel to invade Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where most Gazans are currently hiding, driving them en masse into Egyptian territory, an outcome Egypt has repeatedly warned against.

The plan also says Israel will try to maintain control of a sliver of land in Gaza, along the Israeli border, where the army is systematically demolishing thousands of buildings to create a new buffer zone. Israel’s intention is to make it more difficult for militants in Gaza to repeat an attack like the one on October 7, although the United States and others have spoken out against any attempt to reduce Gaza’s size.

The plan does not explicitly address one of the most contentious issues outside Israel: whether Israeli settlers will be allowed to reestablish communities on Gazan territory, as Netanyahu’s right-wing supporters advocate.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an issue that puts the prime minister at odds with his base, said there were no plans to resettle Gaza with Jews but declined to say so officially, leaving the Mr Netanyahu was left behind. with room for maneuver in the future.

Netanyahu’s document would need to be adopted by his government, although there is no timeline yet for such discussions.

The plan outlines a broad vision for the governance of Gaza after the war.

Administrative control of the territory would be transferred to “local stakeholders with administrative experience” who are “not affiliated with countries or entities that support terrorism.” The reference to terrorism is intended to exclude anyone Israel says has ties to Hamas.

This part of the plan also conflicted with the proposal from Biden administration officials, who have repeatedly said that a revamped Palestinian Authority, the body that governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, should play a role in the post-war Gaza.

The Israeli blueprint does not explicitly mention the Palestinian Authority, but the reference to local residents implicitly rules out the involvement of the authority’s leadership in a post-war Gaza, analysts said.

The document even leaves open the possibility of ‘a permanent settlement with the Palestinians’, but says that ‘can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties’ – an implicit rejection of hints from countries including Britain and France, that they could do that. unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.

Mr Netanyahu has previously rejected the concept of an independent Palestinian state, but his plan released on Friday did not explicitly rule it out.

But even as Netanyahu’s blueprint fueled debate over Gaza’s future, aid groups and the United Nations warned with increasing urgency about the here and now: the lack of food, drinking water and medicine in Gaza.

“I fear that we are on the brink of a monumental disaster with serious consequences for regional peace, security and human rights,” Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of UNRWA, wrote in a letter to the President of the General Assembly on Thursday of the UN.

Fewer aid trucks entered Gaza this week than earlier this year, when between 100 and 200 trucks arrived on most days; both border crossings used for aid have been regularly closed, sometimes because Israeli protesters pushing for the release of hostages have blocked a border crossing. A total of 69 trucks arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, the agency said, adding that it is targeting 500 trucks per day to meet Gaza’s needs.

Israel has long been skeptical of UNRWA and has claimed that 30 of the organization’s employees took part in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks that killed 1,200 people and transported hundreds of hostages to Gaza, where at least 100 remain.

The United Nations says it has fired employees suspected of involvement in the attacks and has disciplined and even fired staff members for participating in inappropriate political activities. But Mr. Lazzarini also advocated for countries cutting off funding after Israel made the accusations, saying it would be “hugely irresponsible” to punish an entire community “over allegations of criminal acts against some individuals.”

Reporting was contributed by Vivian Yee, Aaron Bokserman, Johnatan Reiss, Rawan Sheikh AhmadAnd Edward Wong.