Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip providing for management of the territory by local Palestinian officials, an eventuality rejected by the Palestinian Authority.
The proposal in several points, which Mr. Netanyahu submitted Thursday evening to the government security cabinet, recalls in the preamble the objectives of the army in Gaza: dismantling of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and release of all the hostages still held, Israeli media reported on Friday.
Gaza’s civil affairs will be managed by “local officials with administrative experience” and who are “not linked to countries or entities that support terrorism,” it said. The Times of Israel citing key elements of the plan.
The project does not mention the Palestinian Authority, in power in the occupied West Bank – and which was also in power in Gaza until Hamas took power in 2007 – but does not explicitly exclude its participation in the management of Gaza.
“Perpetuate the occupation”
“The plans proposed by Mr. Netanyahu aim to perpetuate the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state,” reacted the spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abou Rudeinah.
Only a plan recognizing Gaza as an integral part of “an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital will be acceptable. Any project to the contrary is doomed to failure. Israel will not succeed in changing the geographic and demographic reality of the Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement.
Under Mr. Netanyahu’s plan, even after the war ends, the Israeli army will have the freedom to operate throughout the Gaza Strip to “prevent any resurgence of terrorist activity” and “a security buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the Gaza Strip border” will be established.
This last provision goes against the recommendations of the American administration, which opposes any reduction in Palestinian territory after the war.
Mr. Netanyahu’s plan also envisages Israeli security control “over the entire area west of Jordan” from land, sea and air “to prevent the strengthening of terrorist elements in the (occupied West Bank) and in the Gaza Strip and to counter the threats […] on Israel.
It also provides for a “closure” of the Gaza border with Egypt to prevent the resumption of any terrorist or smuggling activity.
“Demilitarization”
Among other provisions, the “complete demilitarization of Gaza […] beyond what is necessary for the purposes of maintaining order”, as well as “de-radicalization in all religious, educational and social institutions in Gaza”.
The plan finally provides for the dismantling of the United Nations agency for the support of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), several employees of which have been accused by Israel of having participated in the Hamas attack of October 7 on Israeli soil, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,160 people, most of them civilians. The Israeli retaliatory offensive has so far killed nearly 30,000 people, mostly civilians, in Gaza.
The UN fired the employees accused by Israel and began an internal investigation into UNRWA. Several countries have suspended funding to the agency.
On Thursday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini stressed that the agency, the main source of aid to civilians in Gaza, has reached a “breaking point” with Israel’s repeated calls for its dismantling and freezing of donor funding to meet humanitarian needs.
“I fear that we are on the brink of a monumental catastrophe with serious implications for peace, security and human rights in the region,” he added.