“The battle for the future” has begun, says Hubert Védrine as a plan for the future of Gaza has been unveiled

This project provides that there will be no Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip. “It’s not the worst plan,” said Hubert Védrine, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Friday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s plan for post-war Gaza marks “the beginning of the battle after”, estimates Hubert Védrine, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Friday January 5 on franceinfo. The Israeli government, which must give its approval to this plan, is in fact divided over the future of the Palestinian enclave. Unlike some of his fellow ministers, Yoav Gallant sees it without Israeli settlers.

His plan actually recommends that“there will be no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip after the objectives of the war have been achieved”. “It’s not the worst plan”reacts Hubert Védrine. “The worst are the people who think like the Americans when faced with Indians during colonization”those who “want to remove the two million inhabitants of the West Bank, put their hands on Gaza, resettle settlers in Gaza”.

The former head of French diplomacy, under François Mitterrand, refers to Itamar Ben Gvir, Israeli Minister of National Security, and Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Minister of Finance. The first called on Monday January 1 for a return of Jewish settlers to Gaza after the current war, and for “encourage” the Palestinian population to emigrate, the day after a similar call from the second.

For Hubert Védrine, another “battle” is playing out right now in Israel. “Is it that [le Premier ministre] Benjamin Netanyahu will stay? Depending on whether it stays or not, it will trigger a new solution process or not., he analyzes. If he leaves power, “a sort of realism around territorial compromise will reimpose itself at one point or another”.

He finally reacts to the diplomatic efforts deployed since the start of the conflict, and in particular to the fifth official visit to Israel by the head of American diplomacy Anthony Blinken. “No one’s voice [n’a pesé]”, not even that of the United States. If they had been heard, “there would have been a small Palestinian state for 30 years, which would also be associated, in my opinion, with Israel and Jordan in a dynamic regional confederation”he regrets.