Amid the Israeli plans, which include security control over Gaza or an artificial island off the coast of the Strip, the American Bloomberg Agency revealed, on Friday, that the United States and its European allies are pushing towards a plan to deploy an international peacekeeping force, which includes establishing “safe zones” in southern Gaza, This was met with rejection by the leaders of the main United Nations agencies, including the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization, who required the approval of all parties.
According to an American expert speaking to Sky News Arabia, the Palestinian people have the right to determine the future of Gaza, and that the Israeli and American plans aim to eliminate the Strip and not rule it. The war is not over yet and no one knows its results or can predict them.
What are Israel’s options and plans?
Israeli plans include the following:
- Security control, which according to Benjamin Netanyahu includes Israel assuming full security control in the Strip, according to the American CBS network.
- Maintaining an effective security force, a plan according to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, includes Israel maintaining an “active security force in the near future” to prevent Hamas from returning after the war, according to the Financial Times.
As for the American Al-Monitor website, it quoted an Israeli security source, as well as journalist Ben Caspit, on Saturday, that Israel has several options for managing Gaza, including the following:
- The option of annexing Egypt, which Cairo rejects.
- Rebuilding Gaza south of its current location, instead of rebuilding in areas of devastation left by Israeli bombs, transferring some of its residents to other countries, and leaving the rest in rebuilt Gaza.
- The return of the Palestinian Authority, which is an idea that Israeli decision-makers consider “bad,” because it undermines the goal of the Netanyahu government, which is to sever all relations with Gaza, including not sending workers from the Strip nor supplying Israeli water, electricity, or fuel.
- An international coalition, which includes handing over the sector to an international coalition, consisting of several countries.
- An artificial island: The establishment of a huge artificial island off the coast of Gaza, and its residents will obtain new land with effective infrastructure, and there will be no land borders between Israel and Gaza.
What about Washington’s plan?
Unlike Israel, Washington’s goal is to establish “safe zones” in southern Gaza, according to US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
The American plan also includes the following:
- Deploying an international peacekeeping force, prompting Israel to end the war.
- Bloomberg Agency said, on Saturday, that Arab countries are hesitant to discuss detailed plans regarding Gaza, and are currently adhering to calls for a ceasefire.
- Israeli officials have little confidence in any outside entity entering Gaza, including the Palestinian Authority.
On the other hand, reports indicate an increasing dispute between Tel Aviv and Washington regarding their perceptions of the future of the Strip, assuming that Hamas’s control over it ends.
The American news network NBC said that differences are increasing between the administration of US President Joe Biden and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the attack on the Gaza Strip and its political future, and adds:
- Disagreements also exist regarding who will rule Gaza after the war, and the role of the Palestinian Authority, in addition to reviving diplomatic efforts for a two-state solution and establishing a Palestinian state.
- The dispute will worsen in the coming months, and US administration officials are concerned about an Israeli proposal to establish heavily fortified buffer zones in the northern Gaza Strip to protect Israel from any future attack.
- Establishing a buffer zone in Gaza will reduce the area of the Strip.
- Despite existing differences, the Biden administration is not prepared to withhold military aid to Israel or impose sanctions on it.
- Israel is not making efforts to reduce civilian casualties, especially after the storming of the Shifa Medical Complex.
- American efforts with the Israeli side to bring in humanitarian aid are arduous, due to Tel Aviv’s inflexibility, according to NBC.
Conflict in positions
American strategic expert, Peter Alex, told Sky News Arabia that, based on the general reading of events, there is a conflict in Israeli positions at the political and military levels regarding the future of Gaza, even though Israel’s options are all aimed at imposing security control over the Strip in any form, whatever it may be. Contradicts international laws.
Alex adds:
- The Hamas movement is part of the equation, and before that it is part of the Palestinian people who have the right to determine the future of Gaza and all of Palestine, and after what we see of its cohesion in the war, no one can talk about the future of Gaza.
- The Israeli and American plans aim to eliminate Gaza, not rule it. The war is not over yet, and according to data on the ground, it may be long and will continue for several months.
- Netanyahu’s proposals translate the proposals of the Israeli extreme right, which takes a position on the Palestinian Authority. However, the option of handing the Palestinian Authority responsibility in the Gaza Strip remains the most likely option, even if that authority does not want to enter Gaza on the back of an Israeli or American tank, as its officials announced.
- Israel’s plan for security control aims to transform Gaza into security squares to tighten control over it.
- The Egyptian position rejects this, and its current goal is a ceasefire and the entry of aid.
- The war in Gaza has taken an escalating turn, and there is public opinion in the West putting pressure on governments to stop supporting Israel after the humanitarian tragedies we see every day, and we saw that change in France’s position.
- Any discussion of safe zones must include a permanent commitment to preserving civilian lives and ensuring the return of displaced people to southern Gaza after the fighting stops.
- All of Israel’s plans are difficult to achieve, and its continued presence in Gaza will incur huge losses, and it cannot yet resolve the battle on the ground.
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