For months, PM Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has avoided detailed public discussion about Gaza’s post-war future. Trying to placate both his far-right allies, who seek to rebuild Israeli settlements in Gaza, and Israel’s foreign partners, who want Gaza returned to Palestinian governance, Netanyahu has stopped short of any specific declaration.
Behind the scenes, however, senior officials in his office have been weighing an expansive plan for post-war Gaza, in which Israel would offer to share oversight of the territory with an alliance of Arab countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as the US, according to three Israeli officials and five people who discussed the plan with members of the Israeli govt.
According to that proposal, Israel would do so in exchange for normalised relations between itself and Saudi Arabia, according to the people.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition are almost certain to dismiss such an idea, and so are the Arab countries mentioned as possible participants. But it is the clearest sign yet that officials of Israel’s govt are thinking about Gaza’s future, and could be a starting point in future negotiations.
Arab officials and analysts have called the power-sharing plan unworkable because it does not create an explicit path toward a Palestinian state, which the Emirati and Saudi govts have said is a prerequisite for their involvement in post-war planning. But others have cautiously welcomed the proposal as it at least suggests greater flexibility among Israeli leaders than their public statements suggest.
Under the proposal, the Arab-Israeli alliance, working with the US, would appoint Gazan leaders to redevelop the devastated territory, overhaul its education system and maintain order. After 7-10 years, the alliance would allow Gazans to vote on whether to be absorbed into a united Palestinian administration that would govern in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the proposal. In the meantime, the plan suggests, the Israeli military could continue to operate inside Gaza. nyt
Behind the scenes, however, senior officials in his office have been weighing an expansive plan for post-war Gaza, in which Israel would offer to share oversight of the territory with an alliance of Arab countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as the US, according to three Israeli officials and five people who discussed the plan with members of the Israeli govt.
According to that proposal, Israel would do so in exchange for normalised relations between itself and Saudi Arabia, according to the people.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition are almost certain to dismiss such an idea, and so are the Arab countries mentioned as possible participants. But it is the clearest sign yet that officials of Israel’s govt are thinking about Gaza’s future, and could be a starting point in future negotiations.
Arab officials and analysts have called the power-sharing plan unworkable because it does not create an explicit path toward a Palestinian state, which the Emirati and Saudi govts have said is a prerequisite for their involvement in post-war planning. But others have cautiously welcomed the proposal as it at least suggests greater flexibility among Israeli leaders than their public statements suggest.
Under the proposal, the Arab-Israeli alliance, working with the US, would appoint Gazan leaders to redevelop the devastated territory, overhaul its education system and maintain order. After 7-10 years, the alliance would allow Gazans to vote on whether to be absorbed into a united Palestinian administration that would govern in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the proposal. In the meantime, the plan suggests, the Israeli military could continue to operate inside Gaza. nyt