T. Belman. I don’t think the clan idea will now be abandonned. The assasination of the leader is just a temporary setback. The assasination emphasizes just how important it is for Israel to take full control before detailing her plan for the day after.
Secret plan derailed when Doghmush group’s leader was executed
A secret Israeli plan to persuade a powerful Gazan clan to take power from Hamas was derailed when the terror group executed its leader, The Telegraph can reveal.
Israel is now trying to recruit more moderate Palestinian leaders from the West Bank to rule Gaza after the war.
The plan to install Gaza’s Doghmush clan – the most powerful in the enclave – failed after the group’s leader and several of its allies were assassinated, an Israeli intelligence source with knowledge of the plan said.
Israel has been under pressure from its closest allies, including the United States, to come up with a plan for how Gaza will be run after the war. The Israeli government has also faced pressure from within over its refusal to outline a plan for the future of the coastal territory.
The intelligence source said an attempt was made two months ago to encourage the notorious Doghmush family to take control when the fighting ends.
“We offered the Doghmush control over Gaza,” the source said. “It ended disastrously.”
“The short attempt ended with Hamas entering the clan’s compound, beheading its people, and the next day all the clans jointly announced support for Hamas.”
Significant influence
The Doghmush family had been seen as a viable option to topple terror group Hamas in the battle for political control over the Gaza Strip, where clans wield significant influence.
But each must maintain delicate relationships with Hamas, and there are many deep-seated rivalries.
The plan gave Israel “a potential avenue for alliances based on the age-old adage the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, said the intelligence source.
“This plan was like asking Tony Soprano to govern New Jersey,” the source added.
Seen as the only group with enough power to topple Hamas, the Doghmush clan had a history of conflict with the terror group, including a bloody clash in 2008 that led to the death of at least 10 members of the clan.
Muntez Doghmush, the head of the clan, which is known for its connections to al-Qaeda, is also listed among the US’s most wanted terrorists. Its notoriety has also made it unpopular with Gazans.
In March, the Times of Israel reported that Hamas had killed Doghmush after accusing him of having dealings with Israel, saying the clan had consequently declared all Hamas members targets.
Controlling the smuggling
Originally hailing from Turkey, the clan now straddles the border between Gaza’s Rafah and Egypt, allowing it to control the smuggling in the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, Solomon explained.
“There isn’t any other force in Rafah and south Gaza that’s as powerful as the Doghmush clan,” said Ronen Solomon, an Israeli security analyst who has been researching the clan since the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2005.
Senior Israeli officials are now drawing up plans to find credible alternative rulers for “the day after” the war, with the hope of persuading younger and more moderate members of Fatah, who operate the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA), to run Gaza in a way that its population can live side by side with Israel.
Oded Ailam, the former head of Israel’s counter-terrorism centre, said that after the war is over, “there remains one alternative, difficult to digest and problematic: returning Fatah to Gaza and not allowing Hamas to integrate into the mechanism that will be established”.
“In order for the move to succeed, we must find worthy partners both among Fatah in Gaza as well as import from the West Bank,” Mr Ailam said.
Relying on even moderate Fatah leaders creates a complex web of problems for Israel, however.
Dr Khalil Shikaki, from the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, said: “Based on the current findings, only a few Palestinians would find this acceptable.”
He added: “If the choice is between Hamas and the PA, the majority would go with Hamas without hesitation.”
Mr Ailam, the former counter-terror chief, warned that offering Fatah control of both the West Bank and Gaza would also create the basis of a unified Palestinian state – something the government of Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.
Other alternatives, including an Israeli military administration, or the introduction of a multinational peacekeeping force, would not be likely to work, he said.
@Inna1
While it is discomforting that any nation would want the violently rebellious Pals, such countries do exist. One such country is Scotland, and another is Chechnya. The reason it is not happening is that the West, supported by the Egyptians, will not allow the Pals to escape the war ravaged cage of Gaza from which many Pals would be quite pleased to escape. Indeed, it is a sad reality that the Pals, in spite of all their love of murdering Jews, should be kept locked in a war ravaged zone of battle which is actually smaller than many battlefields over the past century. The villainy which fuels the desire to hold non-combatants in such jeopardy defines the duplicity of those voices screaming loudest about humanitarian tragedies which they refuse to resolve, save for Israel’s surrendering. While it is unthinkable that Israel should submit to such a demand, the consequence is that the non combatants are actually never very far from battle, necessitating Israel to use very expensive munitions to limit the slaughter which would otherwise rid the world of some very unsavory terror supporting people. The effect of all of this is that the Pals are once again being used as a political commodity to savage Israel at the cost of their lives, and the limiting of Israel’s freedom of action against its enemies – which of course is the reason why the Jew hating West in league with the duplicitous Sisi refuse to allow the Pals any possible passage to safe harbors which do exist in other countries.
@Seb I do not disagree with you!
@Bear Man, it was hard to find this again.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/28/go-figure-a-guy-i-drank-coffee-with-was-suddenly-the-enemy-recounts-israeli-who-miraculously-survived-ax-bludgeoning-at-hands-of-palestinian-co-worker/https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/28/go-figure-a-guy-i-drank-coffee-with-was-suddenly-the-enemy-recounts-israeli-who-miraculously-survived-ax-bludgeoning-at-hands-of-palestinian-co-worker/
@Bear maybe? 😀 Any local Arabs who run local functions will be Hamas or be dead. And how many cases have their been of friendly Muslims and/or Arabs who suddenly turned on their Jewish friends, neighbors, coworkers after even as much as 20 years and tried to kill them or did. Going back to the 19th century. The Damascus Affair was Christian Arabs. The IDF must run everything. The only debatable question should be if an Arab wants to take a crap,should he or she have to file the notarized request in triplicate, or will one copy be enough? 😀 The Arabs departure must be faciltated and Jewish resettlement be initiated.
Anything less will just be kicking the can down the road, again, with predictable results, i.e. dead Jews. Plus atrocities. Like Oct. 7. or Hebron in 1929, among other examples. In my humble opinion.
@Bear Klein
“…the better choice maybe to allow them to emigrate.” To emigrate where? Are there any countries that want “Palestinian” civilians? If there are some, why it’s not happening now? As we see there is none.
@Seb yes you are correct Kedar is credited with the Emirates plan. Bibi was quietly trying to implement it but not quiet enough. Hamas got wind of it.
In the 1980s prior to Oslo Israel had tried the Mayor’s plans. PLO kept killing Mayors.
If local Arabs can not be found who are peaceful and want to get corroborate with Israel, the better choice maybe to allow them to emigrate. Maybe emigration and trying to find local Arabs to run municipal type functions.
Wasn’t Mordechai Kedar the first one to advocate that with his emirates plan?