There is great uncertainty following the unhinged plans of President Trump for the massive emigration of 1.8 million Palestinians of Gaza. The future of the Gaza ceasefire is uncertain.
The future and fate of the Israeli hostages are uncertain. The future of the peace agreements between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, and Morocco is uncertain. The future of possible normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is uncertain. The future of the West Bank and the two states solution is uncertain. One thing which is not uncertain is that there will be no mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza.
This is not because Gazans don’t want to leave the hell that they are living in. I believe that a majority of them would want to leave if there was some place that was willing to accept them. But that is not the case. There are no open doors for the Palestinians of Gaza. And if there may be some open doors, the people of Gaza would not want to go there. Even the 160,000 Gazans who managed to buy their way out of Gaza (a minimum of $5000 per person to a corrupt company that exploited their suffering and fear) are stuck in Egypt with no status, no legal right to work and support themselves and their families, and Egypt wants them to return to Gaza as soon as the war is over.
You would be surprised but many Gazans would like to come to Israel, or to the West Bank. If Trump offered them to go to the USA, they would certainly accept, but that will not happen, nor will Trump force Egypt and Jordan to accept them. A much more likely scenario is that Israel will establish a military government to govern Gaza. Pressure will build up on Netanyahu to allow settlement building in Gaza and Israel will sink deep into the sand and mud of a renewed full occupation of Gaza and its more than 2 million people. The fate of the hostages will remain unknown. The killing of Gazans will continue and more Israeli soldiers will be killed.
That is why it is urgent that we Israelis put pressure on the Trump administration to drop their delusional plans for Gaza and get serious about ending the war in Gaza, a full Israeli withdrawal, and the creation of a new independent Palestinian civilian-technocratic government in Gaza which is not Hamas. At the same time there must be international plans for the reconstruction of Gaza so that people there can live with dignity.
At the same time, we Israelis have to figure out how to get Netanyahu out of power and return Israel to its senses and understanding that the two states solution is back on the table and that it is the only way to ensure Israel’s security and well-being.
