Gaza: The case for annexation

T. Belman. Good for Jonathan. I have argued the same thing. I went farther and I suggested that the IDF push the Gazans out of the north 80%  of Gaza before annexing it.  Then Israel should not permit their return.

I think that Jonothan is wrong to suggest that Israel should declare its intention now.

By Jonathan Pollard

As I write this essay, rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza are being intercepted over my home in Jerusalem. And while the successive detonations I hear provide a sense of relief that these enemy rockets are being successfully destroyed by our Iron Dome defenses, I’m reminded that each one of them was launched with the specific intention of murdering innocent civilians in our capital. However, given the fact that Hamas has apparently only used up about a third of its estimated long-range rocket arsenal, they can continue to keep launching missiles at central Israel for quite some time.

This is just one of many reasons why Israel must crush Hamas and make sure that it never has the ability to threaten us ever again. But after we accomplish this goal, what will become of Gaza and its civilian population? My hope is that the enemy population residing there now will be expelled and that the Strip will be annexed and repopulated by Israel. Granted, this objective may seem cruel to the Palestinian expellees, but there is just no other alternative if Gaza is to be free of terrorists that can threaten us.

The Americans evidently are opposed to this solution. Instead, they –and a few of their left-wing supporters in Israel – would prefer to see the PA once again installed in Gaza. But having failed at this task once before, with disastrous consequences, it’s highly unlikely that the PA would do any better job this time around. Indeed, they would simply pick up where Hamas left off by continuing to install a hate-filled educational system that has already poisoned the minds of successive generations of Palestinian students in the Territories. Moreover, by maintaining their so-called “pay for slay” policy, it would probably be only a short matter of time before new terrorist organizations are once again present in Gaza. Suggestions that the UN or some other international security force could ensure that this didn’t reoccur are totally unworthy of consideration given our past disappointing experiences with such “solutions”.

But what really seems to be the number one problem to be solved has to do with what should be done with the resident Palestinian population. Not surprisingly, no Arab country wants them. And one could hardly blame them. Wherever they go they seem to bring a host of serious problems with them. Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait have all experienced internal security difficulties due to the presence of large numbers of radicalized Palestinians. Yet if no Arab country wants them, where are these displaced Gazans supposed to go? Europe? That’s highly unlikely for all the obvious reasons. North America? Again, the local backlash would undoubtedly be severe. Latin America? Given the economic problems many countries there are currently experiencing, I can’t see them predisposed to accept an influx of untrained Palestinians, who will only add to the political instability of their countries. Clearly, the Arab League would have to take the lead on accepting displaced Palestinians.

At the present time, Israel’s national unity government doesn’t quite seem ready to announce its intentions toward a Hamas-free Gaza. Most polls, though, suggest a very strong desire by a majority of Israeli citizens to clear the resident Palestinians out of Gaza by whatever means and then flatten the region. The sight of countless Palestinians pillaging Israeli border communities and violently humiliating Israeli hostages taken by Hamas back to Gaza and paraded through the streets hasn’t exactly endeared these people to most Israelis. Indeed, there seems to be an understandable seething hatred exhibited by Israelis towards these Palestinians, who glorified in the slaughter of their defenseless fellow countrymen this past Simchat Torah. Clearly, any attempt by the Israeli government to allow the same kind of Palestinian presence in Gaza after Hamas has been defeated is therefore going to encounter fierce political resistance from the Israeli public.

How the Biden Administration would react to this situation can only be imagined. But if the leaders of the national unity government appreciate the probable electoral consequences of showing sympathy to these particular Palestinians, there is a possibility that they’ll find the backbone needed to hold their ground against the Americans. Assuming this is the case, it would be prudent for our government to announce its decision to clear and annex Gaza at the end of the war against Hamas, so as to remove any ambiguity about what its intentions are with regard to the area. Perhaps most importantly, such a declaration will also give our soldiers the confidence to know that their efforts will not be surrendered at some negotiating table at the conclusion of the war. That kind of reassurance is the least we can do for our brave men and women who will be fighting on our behalf.