“I'm not going to change Hamastan by Fatahstan”. In this very graphic way, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed on December 16 his radical opposition to the fact that, after the war, the Palestinian National Authority—governed by Al Fatah—takes charge of the Strip it controls. Hamas after a military operation that has already caused 20,000 deaths (70% civilians). The statement in which he said this came after he acknowledged for the first time disagreements with the United States on the post-conflict scenario in the Strip. In this way, he also said 'no' to the two-state solution that both Washington and the EU have resurrected. “I will not allow the State of Israel to repeat the fateful mistake of Oslo,” he said of the 1993 agreements that created the ANP and put that solution on the horizon. Five days later, the head of the Security Council has opened up to the ANP governing the Strip, but demands its deradicalization.
Netanyahu's initial unwavering position seems to be cracking among the prime minister's collaborators. “Israel is aware of the desire of the international community and the countries of the region to integrate the ANP [en Gaza] when Hamas disappears,” stated the president of the National Security Council of his Government, Tzachi Hanegbi, in an article published this Thursday in the Saudi digital media. Elaph. “The issue will require a fundamental reform of the ANP that will focus on its duty to educate the new generations in Gaza, Ramallah, Jenin and Jericho [las tres últimas, poblaciones de Cisjordania, controlada hoy por la ANP] “in the values of moderation and tolerance” and “without inciting violence with Israel.” The Hanegbi tribune assured that achieving this “will require a great effort and the assistance of the international community.” “We are ready for that effort,” he concluded.
The Israeli Government denies that there are contradictions between what Hanegbi defended in his article and Netanyahu's position. “What Israel wants is a moderate Palestinian administration with the help of moderate countries,” explains a senior official in Netanyahu's Executive. “We do not want Hamas, but neither do we want a recycling of the current situation with the current ANP. Nor do we want to be the ones who govern the Strip,” he adds. According to this senior official, the objectives that Israel pursues with the war in that territory is to demilitarize and deradicalize it, but also “to establish a civil administration that cares about the people who live there.” In his vision of the post-conflict scenario, the Executive wants to have the collaboration of “moderate countries.” Among those classified as such are the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Also the United States and the European Union.
“We need new leadership.” [palestino]. People who don't hate us,” says this senior official. This change in the leadership of the ANP is necessary because, he says, the Government of Mahmud Abbas “does not want to participate in this vision of reconciliation nor does it want to be our partner.” “We tell them where the terrorists are in the West Bank and they do nothing,” he continues. “The ANP is educating its children to become murderers; “They talk to them about terrorists as martyrs who should be admired.” The senior official assures that, with the current configuration of that administration, the “deradicalization” that Israel seeks will not be achieved. They want a change. “I hope we get it.”
But the timid path towards possibility that the Netanyahu Government has undertaken is not only reflected in its openness to this hypothetical Palestinian control of the Strip. Also in a new pause in the fighting that allows a new exchange of hostages for Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails. After its radical refusal to negotiate a new truce, the Israeli Executive was forced to seek one in the face of internal pressure for the release of the hostages, spurred by the incident in which three hostages who were waving white flags in a sign of surrender were shot to death by soldiers. that their mission was to rescue them when they were mistaken for Hamas fighters.
Israel wants to reach a new agreement with Hamas to free the hostages and has taken steps to do so. This week it sent the director of its foreign information service (Mosad), David Barnea, to meet with the Qatari government, which acts as an intermediary with Egypt. To achieve this, the Palestinian Islamist group demands an immediate cessation of hostilities, something that the Israeli Government is not willing to grant. Sources from Benjamin Netanyahu's Executive assure that the process is stalled and that, for the moment, “there is no negotiation.” These same sources assure, however, that Israel is open to a new agreement to release all the hostages. “The sooner the better”.
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