Arriving in power in Israel at the end of December 2022, these two ministers from the most extreme right-wing religious Zionist schools of thought intend to do everything possible to annex all of the Palestinian territories and make the dream of a Greater Israel a reality, at the borders extended far beyond its current limits. Among their objectives: “Prepare the return to Gaza”, the title given to a gathering organized on October 21 on a wasteland not far from the border between Israel and the Gaza area. Stated objective: recolonize Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, has never openly defended this hypothesis, on numerous occasions describing a reoccupation of Gaza as“unrealistic” and “not on the table“, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.
gullThe only solution to get out of this war and recover our hostages is an agreement with the only force there: Hamas.
This 365 square kilometer territory has been administered by Hamas since 2007, after the withdrawal of Israeli troops in 2005 and the forced departure of 8,000 settlers. Despite these radical speeches, Agnès Levallois struggles to believe that this scenario will echo within the Israeli state: “If Israel left Gaza, it was because it realized that managing this territory was more trouble than benefit. I doubt that beyond the question of its security, Israel wants reoccupation. The cost would be too high, and even from a religious point of view, Gaza is not a land with equivalent importance to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
Migrants established in Lebanon also lost everything in Israeli strikes
Buffer zone north of Gaza
The security issue has been at the center of political and military decisions since the death of nearly 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 hostages during the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel. “What concerns the Israelis is that this type of attack is not repeated and one of the solutions would be to establish a buffer zone which makes this type of infiltration into our territory more difficult,” judge Miri Eisin, a former colonel in the Israeli army (until 2004) now a member of the National Institute of Counterterrorism at Reichman University in Herzilya. By virtue of the establishment of such a buffer zone, the Israeli army has already destroyed a large number of buildings in the Gaza Strip located less than a kilometer from the barrier with Israel, the United Nations announced last February .
Destructions described as “free” et “not justified by military necessity. can be compared to a “war crime” according to Volker Turk, its High Commissioner for Human Rights. For Agnès Levallois, the current strikes in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, aim to drive the Palestinian population from the area to establish permanent Israeli control. “The same thing is planned in southern Lebanon, where the testimonies I have received establish that, to a depth of five kilometers, the villages have been razed as in Gaza. establishes the researcher.
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No future without Hamas
According to Michael Milstrein, director of the Forum for Palestinian Studies at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, the only realistic alternative to reoccupation of the enclave is an agreement with Hamas. “Apart from the far right, here in Israel, most citizens reject this idea of taking back Gaza, he analyzes, but we must be honest and admit that currently, despite the damage it has experienced, Hamas is still the leading actor controlling education, communication and public space. And as long as that is the case, we won’t be able to promote anything else.”. Although it is estimated to date that its military branch is 90% destroyed, according to experts, the Islamist organization retains deep social, political and diplomatic roots.
So, without a political solution, there is no possible scenario for the future. Miri Eisin shares this observation, but does not exclude the participation of the large Palestinian families present, for example through the emergence of a figure from one of them. “I think that an outsider figure would not work, because that would not satisfy the population, believes the former colonel. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is too weak to handle the situation, so that means we probably have to invent something new.”
And this, according to Miri Eisin, cannot be done without Israeli and international support. “The Palestinian Authority is disowned by the Palestinians in the West Bank and the idea of replacing it with Hamas in Gaza is completely unrealistic, abonde Michael Milstein, “So even if this requires the army to completely withdraw from Gaza, the only solution to get out of this war and recover our hostages is an agreement with the only force there: Hamas.” Added to these political considerations are the concrete difficulties of recruiting Israeli troops within the country, and the anger of reservists who have seen their periods of service extended since October 7.
Israel bans UNRWA activities throughout its territory and once again violates international law
Right to self-determination
Marc Botenga is a Belgian MP (PTB) and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. He was recently in the West Bank and Israel for a diplomatic and observation visit. He does not envisage a post-war period in Gaza without the active participation of the Palestinian people in its future. The politician says to himself “stunned” by most discussions around a future Gaza which rarely include its population, and “carry with them a denial of the basic principle of a people’s right to self-determination, whether in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”. Adding find “worrying” criticism of the supposed weakness of the Palestinian Authority when it, once again last May, saw part of its funds – collected from VAT and customs duties – frozen by the Israeli Minister of Finance , the ultranationalist Bezalel Smotrich, in reaction to the recognition of a Palestinian state by several European countries.
After United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres declared persona non grata on its soil, Israel has also prohibited UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East, from continuing to work in the territory since Monday, October 28. For the population of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, whose access to resources and especially education are managed by the UN agency, this decision has dramatic consequences.
Since then, echoes from the Israeli security cabinet reflect Israel’s desire to hire subcontractors responsible for coordinating and distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza. For Agnès Levallois, this privatization of aid to populations is one of the possible scenarios: “I think this solution would suit Israel very well. Exit the international community, then it would rely on a few “collaborator” Palestinians, and Israel would have total control of the entry and exit flows from the enclave.” Major risk of this privatization, according to her: a more opaque organization, without UN officials to bear witness to the reality on the ground and control the arrival of aid.
