Returning Gazans to evacuated areas – a recipe for disaster

I’m going to be sending this message out in English and Hebrew so that it is easy to forward.

I am taking this unusual step because there is talk that we are going to buckle to American pressure to allow Gazans to return to areas north of Wadi Gaza without properly processing those areas.

The best solution for Gaza is for the world that so supports it to take in its residents, as Nikki Haley suggested. But if that does not happen:

Let’s be clear about the situation in the areas we have “cleaned out”.

We remain profoundly clueless regarding what is in those areas that we have yet to find.

And to make matters worse: the more dangerous the hidden strategic stockpiles and tunnels are, the fewer Gazans know about their existence making it very likely that none of the terrorists we have captured may even know about them, even if they wanted to tell us.

Allow the Gazans back into this area and we have no idea what we will face there in the very near future.

I get no comfort from Defense Minister Galant’s assurances that the areas would be under “a different leadership, elements that aren’t threatening.”

If Mahatma Gandhi himself led the neighborhood, he would be no match for the Hamas terrorists readily willing to slaughter Gazans who decline to follow their instructions.

There is only one way to “sterilize” an area, and that is to raze all the buildings and literally shave off enough layers of land to expose any tunnel shafts, followed by pouring cement slabs to serve as both the foundations for new construction and to effectively seal off access to anything missed.

This process takes a fraction of the time of any other attempt to clear out weapons and tunnels at a considerably lower risk to our soldiers.

It also makes possible the implementation of a serious, well-organized, emergency construction program, rather than the structurally dangerous and terribly inadequate housing that the helter-skelter construction which would otherwise take place.

Consider the 1,000 unit Keetwonen shipping container apartment complex in Amsterdam. Its footprint is so small that the entire population of the Gaza Strip could be easily housed in such units inside the city limits of Gaza City with room to spare.

Gazans could be gainfully employed converting 40-foot containers into apartment modules stacked on the cement slabs, while the installation of infrastructure takes advantage of the fact that pipes, etc., can be laid out before the shaved-off land is returned to its place.

Mr. Biden can even have his photo op of Gazans moving into neighborhoods of clean new modular apartments well before Election Day.

This is not a pipe dream.

In sharp contrast, it’s a reckless pipe dream to think that simply allowing Gazans to return to areas after a cursory search will work out.

Want a reality check? Take a look at what’s happening with the aid trucks as they are openly hijacked by armed terrorists.

If such a well-defined operation can’t run properly, how in the world can one suggest that returning Gazans to a mix of rubble and structurally dangerous buildings could possibly work out?

The following is a translation of the Arabic OpEd which National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi reportedly wrote on behalf of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

(Since then a senior Israeli official explained to reporters, that there can be no role for the Palestinian
Authority in Gaza after the war because it cannot be trusted to fulfill Israel’s requirements, including demilitarizing the territory,)

The War of the Iron Swords and the Day That Follows

By Tzachi Hanegbi, head of the National Security Council in Israel

(Url for original Arabic article https://elaph.com/Web/ElaphWriter/2023/12/1523242.html)

Google translation with some edits:

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched war on Israel. It is a war for which this terrorist organization has prepared well over many years.

There is no doubt that it was a black day in the history of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, as about 1,300 men, women, old men, boys, girls, children, and infants were slaughtered, burned, and raped, while 240 Israelis (Jews and Muslims) and foreign nationals were kidnapped to the Gaza
Strip, about 130 of whom still remain. Hostages in intolerable conditions by Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Unlike our enemies, we have no intention of hiding the truth, lying to ourselves and the world, or pretending to mislead people. Our enemies feed you, male and female citizens across the Arab world, with lies and fake news over and over again. They claim that Israel is committing genocide and randomly targeting innocent people. They even claim that there are and have never been tunnels for military purposes under hospitals, schools and civilian buildings, and they claim that we are the ones who killed the.participants in the music festival held near our border with Gaza.

The sad thing is that many of you tend to believe these lies. What is more regrettable than that is that even if we took each of you to see with your own eyes what Hamas did in Gaza, many of you would still believe that the “Zionist enemy” is lying. I suggest you wake up and see reality as it is.

And let’s be honest and speak frankly.

The war against Hamas was imposed on Israel in the wake of the brutal massacre of our citizens, and it was not our choice.

Indeed, war is a cruel thing. Since the IDF began its operations against Hamas by air, sea and land, uninvolved Palestinian residents have also been killed and wounded.

Unfortunately, this cannot be avoided, and it is likely that civilians will also be injured during the later stages of the war.

However, Israel has done and continues to do everything in its power to avoid harming innocent people.

Unlike Hamas, which spent many years building tunnels instead of shelters for its citizens, and even placed responsibility for the fate of Gazan civilians on the United Nations (Musa Abu Marzouk, October 31, 2023), we worked tirelessly to allow civilians to leave the combat zones, and we worked to evacuate hospitals and buildings. Residential areas, and we created safe areas for hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the north and south of the Gaza Strip.

We have allowed thousands of tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza, as well as providing shelter, clean water and basic supplies.

Over the past two decades, the miserable residents of the Gaza Strip have been victims of a bloody and brutal terrorist organization. Hamas leaders did not provide any means to bend the people of Gaza to their will, and instead of making the Strip a pearl on the shore of the Mediterranean, they made it the crowded, poor and miserable place it is today.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have reached Gaza, but not to the people who need it. Rather, they invested in the industry of terrorism and death: in paving hundreds of kilometers of lined tunnels, financing factories that produce missiles and explosive devices, and paying the salaries of men who were incited and trained from morning until night to kill Jews in their beds and kidnap children from their cribs.

Yes, this war will be long, brutal and painful. And Israel will win. We have no other choice, and we will not compromise the safety of our citizens. We will fight with courage and strength against all our enemies. Those who thought we were afraid were wrong, and those who claimed that we are a country weaker than a spider’s web were wrong. Our best sons and daughters are ready these days to sacrifice their lives for the security of their country out of complete unity and solidarity.

What about the next day after the victory over Hamas?

First and foremost, it is important to create a better world for our children and for the Palestinian children living in the Gaza Strip. They deserve to live a dignified and free life, without the terror and fear of a
cruel and bloodthirsty dictatorship.

We are committed not only to liberating the citizens of Israel from fear and terrorism, but to ensuring that the two million Palestinian Arabs in Gaza will look to the future with great hope.

Secondly, together with the civilian and moderate forces in the Palestinian arena, the people of Gaza, and with our partners in the international community and among the countries of the region, we will look at how to reconstruct and rebuild the Strip. In order to create a new reality in the sector, a combination of regional and international forces will be needed.

Third, I would like to make clear that beyond the desire to ensure the security of our citizens, which we will no longer give up, Israel has no interest in controlling the civil affairs of the Gaza Strip, and this will require a moderate Palestinian Arab governing body that enjoys broad popular support and legitimacy. It is not for us to determine Who will this worker be?

Israel is aware of the desire of the international community and the countries of the region to integrate the Palestinian Authority the day after Hamas, and we make it clear that the matter will require a fundamental reform of the Palestinian Authority, which will focus on recognizing its duty to raise the young generation, in Gaza, Ramallah, Jenin and Jericho, in the values of moderation and tolerance. , without incitement to violence against Israel.

In its current form, the Authority finds it difficult to do this, and it will require a great effort and assistance from the international community as well as from the countries of the region, and we are ready for this effort.

Finally, on the issue of Iran, Hezbollah, and the axis of evil led by them, I will clarify that although Israel is focusing on the war to eliminate Hamas, we advise Hezbollah and its Iranian master not to make mistakes. We are also patient, and know how to wait for favorable circumstances; This is my sincere promise, on behalf of the people and government of Israel.

* Elaph publishes this article by the head of the National Security Council in Israel after he approached us, in accordance with freedom of opinion and allowing room for all opinions that do not conflict with the basic values of life and do not call for violence, and for the other and different opinions to be heard and heard with all transparency and clarity.

Dr. Aaron Lerner and his late father Dr. Joseph Lerner founded the Independent Media Review and Analysis (IMRA) government accredited news organization in 1992,which provides an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations.