DayofPal– Israeli writer Tzvi Bar’el published an article in the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz, in which he considered that the Israeli occupation is facing a strategic dilemma in the Gaza Strip.
He warned that the assumptions upon which Netanyahu’s government relies in its aggression against Gaza have collapsed, and that military occupation of the Strip will not end or eradicate Gaza resistance but will rather strengthen it.
Bar’el said that former U.S. President Donald Trump can no longer threaten to “open the gates of hell” if Hamas does not accept the deal, because “hell stands naked in front of what is happening in Gaza,” referring to the scale of the humanitarian disaster caused by the ongoing war.
The writer criticized the Israeli view that the displacement of Palestinians from northern Gaza to the south and control over 75% of the Strip’s territory will grant the Israeli occupation the ability to wage a “comprehensive war” against Hamas.
He pointed out that the Israeli army claims to be close to achieving this goal, yet it continues to suffer losses, and the Israeli captives in the tunnels have not yet been freed.
Bar’el affirmed that considering full control over the Strip as a solution to eliminate the resistance is a “strategic danger,” questioning the usefulness of this option given that more than two million Palestinians in Gaza are living a humanitarian catastrophe.
Such catastrophe is measured not only by the number of martyrs and wounded but also by the extent of hunger, disease, and psychological destruction that has affected an entire generation.
He added that Gaza, despite its tragedy, forms a fertile environment for the growth of the resistance, and it will not be long before new armed groups appear under different names, not needing long-range missiles or drones, but resorting to light weapons and improvised explosive devices against the Israeli army deployment throughout the Strip.
Bar’el likened this to the experience of the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Israeli occupation in Lebanon, considering that “control over the land was always the easier part of the war.”
He mocked the Israeli assumptions that Palestinians will turn against Hamas under pressure, questioning whether Israel is ready for the possibility that the Palestinians will rise up against the Israeli occupation itself, after they have lost everything.
The writer also touched on Israeli and American proposals calling for the “displacement of Palestinians from Gaza”. He also warned that these ideas could blow up normalization agreements with Saudi Arabia and possibly threaten peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.
Bar’el also questioned the usefulness of the proposal to “expel Hamas leaders in Gaza” as a condition for a deal, since their lives are already threatened.
He pointed out that the Biden administration had asked Qatar to remove Hamas leadership, but it soon became clear that negotiations were impossible without them, and their influence on the decisions of the movement’s leaders in Gaza is limited.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=65469
