Daniel Pipes
WSJ, Mar. 3, 2024
“A trove of evidence, however, suggests that Gazans reject being used as pawns in the terror group’s strategy. Two surveys taken before Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre signal that Gazans want to live normal lives.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month presented Israel’s security cabinet with a short document: “The Day After Hamas.” Its key passage states that Jerusalem plans to work primarily with Gazans to rebuild their territory. “Civil affairs and responsibility for public order will be based on local actors with ‘management experience,’” it says, and “not identified with countries or organizations supporting terrorism” or receiving payments from them.
In a step toward this program of self-rule, the Israeli military has begun an informal pilot program of what it calls “humanitarian pockets” in parts of north Gaza cleared of Hamas. These local governing bodies consist of community leaders, whose duties will include distributing humanitarian aid and revising school curricula.
The concept of Israelis working with Gazans is brave, bold and contested. It faces two main criticisms. First, the U.S. and other governments want to hand Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, which rules most of the West Bank and seeks Israel’s destruction. Second, many Israelis and Palestinians alike insist that Jerusalem won’t find those “local actors” to work with.
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