It seems that the mediators have been successful and that tomorrow Hamas will send to Qatar the names of the next 3 Israeli hostages that will be released on Saturday. Both Israel and Hamas breached their commitments in the agreement that they made and the mediators – Qatar, Egypt and the US – have successfully strong armed both sides into continuing phase one of the deal. More tents will enter Gaza, temporary housing caravans will also enter. More fuel for hospitals and the power plant will be allowed in and heavy machinery for clearing away the rubble of building bombed by Israel will enter to begin to search for bodies underneath the rubble – perhaps the bodies of Israeli hostages also. Negotiations on phase 2 may begin after Saturday that were supposed to begin on day 16 and end by day 30; they did not begin on time and they will not conclude on time. But it is still not too late for Israel and the mediators to say to Hamas, lets merge phase one and two into one deal – let’s end the war and bring home all of the hostages now. Hamas will agree. But as we all know, the endgame of phase 2 is the end of the war and Israeli full withdrawal from Gaza. That will not happen as long as Hamas remains in control of Gaza. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Gazans want Hamas to be out of power, as long as there is no viable alternative to Hamas, the Gazans will rightfully fear Hamas and will not rise up against them. Gazans are struggling on a daily basis for the most basic means of survival – shelter, food, water, sanitization, medical supplies. Gazans don’t have to ability to rise up against the ruler who hold guns when there is no one else there to support in their place. As the remaining Hamas leadership outside of Gaza is emerged in talks about changing direction, some of them understanding the disaster that their actions have brought down on the Palestinian people, the new armed youngsters with new uniforms and guns are gaining power and maybe one day soon tell the political leadership outside that they will not listen to them. There are no real Hamas political leaders in Gaza today and the Hamas guys with guns have no understanding of the responsibility that they hold now on the fate of the people of Palestine.
The crazies in Netanyahu’s government, along with Netanyahu himself, who are calling for the resumption of the war and ending the ceasefire, once again sacrificing the hostages, need to be told by the Israeli public that before they send a single Israeli soldier into a battle with no achievable strategic goals, that they should wear uniforms together with their own children and head to the front, instead of sitting in their comfortable offices and chauffer driven cars, let them lead the charge to battle for a goal which is not achievable. Hamas will not be destroyed militarily. Hamas will not be forced out of power with the power of guns. That will only happen politically. There needs to be a decision by the Palestinian leadership on who can govern Gaza. President Abbas and his cronies need to come to their senses and understand that they cannot govern Gaza. There are responsible Palestinians who can take the lead working with neighboring Arab states, but anyone on the Palestinian side who is brave enough to stand up and take responsibility for trying to bring life back to Gaza is considered by Ramallah to be a traitor. In the meantime, the delaying of the decisions of who will lead Gaza to enable the war to end and push Israel to withdraw from Gaza endangers the lives of Palestinians and keeps Israelis living next to Gaza in constant trauma from the possibility of another October 7.
Instead of the Trump administration wasting time and political capital on delusional ideas of population transfers (ethnic cleansing), it is time for Trump to drop his crazy ideas and call for the convening of a regional summit including Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia with the participation of other internationals such as the EU and the USA in order to come to quick decisions on the Palestinian government that will rule Gaza from the next 2-3 years before Palestinians can hold elections for an agreed on leadership for the Palestinian people. That same regional conference needs to put squarely and firmly on the table that the two states solution is back on the agenda and that there is no alternative it that has the ability to marginalize the extremists on both sides. The majority of Israelis and Palestinians want to live in peace, but that will only happen when we can both believe that the other side is actually willing to live in peace. No more armed struggle, no more occupation, no more belief in military solutions. Mutual recognition, mutual respect and dignity, and a belief in two states that will live in peace and understand that their own national interests demand that we start marching on the path to make that real. Israelis and Palestinians will never have security unless both of them have security. Hard to swallow now while we are all still living in trauma and fear, but this war really must be the last Israeli Palestinian war.
