A “Day After” Idea That Ought To Be In The Conversation
By Andrew Pessin 23 March 2024
[Be sure to check out my new novel, Bright College Years—about how the campus used to be, and perhaps could be again, before it devolved into dangerous self-mockery!…]
There are many competing ideas about “the day after” the Israel-Hamas war, about how to fill the dangerous vacuum left in Gaza should Israel succeed in destroying Hamas. Overlooked, however, is a particularly intriguing suggestion by the anonymous blogger Elder of Ziyon that deserves wider attention.
What are the main possibilities?
Israel doesn’t want Gaza back. It doesn’t want to govern two million hostile Palestinians, nor take over day-to-day governance. Imagine the suicide bombings at every governmental office. And, of course, it would be “occupation.”
Israel has tried empowering local clans as alternate rulers for years and it has never worked out: they fight amongst themselves, there are too many threats from armed Islamists, and no one wants to look like a puppet of Israel.
Some (such as the U.S.) have pushed for a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority (P.A.) to reassert control, but the P.A. is corrupt and weak, despised by its own citizens, in fact complicit in terror against Israelis, and “revitalization” is a farce. The P.A. lost Gaza to Hamas once and would likely lose it again, either by election or by force.
Others have proposed a multinational force or rule that would include Arab states, a kind of “Arab mandate.” Though there are advantages, it means that Gaza would become a hot spot for geopolitical rivalries between at least Qatar and Saudi Arabia. But Qatari influence would be disastrous. Qatar supports Hamas both directly and through Al Jazeera, the most influential source of “news” in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia might want more influence, but without peace with Israel, it is limited in what it can do. Egypt doesn’t want Gaza. Egyptians hate everything about it. After all, it was Egypt that turned it into a virtual prison for Palestinian refugees after the 1948 war and to this day.
So who should run Gaza the day after Hamas is eradicated?
When Israel left Gaza in 2005, optimists thought it could become a new Singapore. Palestinian incompetence and Hamas ended that fantasy. Hate for Israel was more important than helping Palestinians thrive.
But, as Elder of Ziyon points out, there is one country that could turn Gaza into that wonderful place: the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). Gaza should become the eighth United Arab Emirate.
Think about it. The U.A.E. is at peace with Israel. It and other countries could pour massive amounts of money into rebuilding Gaza into that paradise, money they’d be hesitant to commit if Gaza were to continue to be a source of war and destruction. The U.A.E. wouldn’t allow Islamists to gain a toehold, if only to protect its investments: there would be no rockets, no infiltrations, no tunnels.
Why would the U.A.E. be interested?
The U.A.E. already has expansionist ambitions. Further, a port on the Mediterranean is a pretty big carrot. The U.A.E. has already been negotiating with an Israeli firm to build a “land bridge” of trucks from the Port of Dubai to Israeli ports to bypass the Red Sea and the Houthis for shipping to Europe. If the U.A.E. were to build or run a port in Gaza, it could be on both ends of the shipping traffic. An already proposed train line from the Gulf to Israel could be extended to Gaza to tie the Gulf countries closer to the sea as well. There are also significant gas deposits off the coast of Gaza. No one wants to risk drilling there now, but the U.A.E. would solve that problem, and gain from it.
Israel should be on board with such a plan, a true and enormous mutual benefit of the Abraham Accords.
Gazans would suddenly live in a place that has a future. The U.A.E. and Israel could develop joint business ventures and economic zones to bring Gaza up to modern standards. One could realistically imagine luxury hotels and high-tech skyscrapers being built on the shores of the Mediterranean. Joint economic projects would employ thousands of Gazans, who could work and flourish. Gazans would become citizens of an Arab country but could still call themselves Palestinians. The emirate itself could be called “The Emirate of Palestine.” Why not? And Gaza citizens of the U.A.E. could move to the other emirates to seek other opportunities if they prefer, having the same freedom of movement human rights groups are currently rejecting for them during the course of the current war. There would be no more “refugees.”
Gaza could truly become the global tourist destination peaceniks have been dreaming of at least since Israel left it in 2005, and maybe since Oslo. Wealthy Europeans could rub shoulders with wealthy Arabs and make deals.
Egypt would be thrilled to have such a neighbor. The entire Sinai could benefit from increased trade.
This idea is a win for literally everyone—except for those people dedicated to destroying Israel, who bring destruction upon all. People who truly want peace in the region would love to see this idea work. This plan is a win for Israel, a win for the U.A.E., a win for Gazans, a win for Egypt, and a win for the West that wants to solve the Middle East crisis. It is a real solution, and a permanent one.
It would not be easy, but this plan is the only one anyone has suggested that has a chance of a permanent success. Let it at least be debated and compared with the other plans that the supposed “experts” are advocating where a corrupt terror-inclined Palestinian leadership controls Gaza or a weak Palestinian leadership must be propped up by Israel.
Start by describing the plan to actual Gazans and ask whether they like the idea.
Can anyone actually think of any better realistic future for Gaza than this?
I’d say the chances of that are 50/50 at best. If UAE money started funding a new Hamas, Israel would be worse off that they were on Oct. 6th.
The proposal might have some merit, however, if some entity besides an Arab country took control of Gaza. How about Singapore?
Here’s another idea. Why doesn’t Israel re-populate Gaza with 2M refugees of Islamic violence. Why limit Gaza to balestinian refugees?
Fallacy-
THEY-
“Wouldn’t allow Islamists to gain a toe hold”… Isn’t that what Israel had been fighting for months to achieve. And still not assured , because of strong international interference. But they will eventually do it.
And it is really Israeli territory and Israel needs the space. The people there need to be pushed or encouraged to skip off to other places of their choosing and who are willing to receive them. And that, by no means is everyone…
An extended Jordan Option would be better..
Whereas the UAE is a member of the Abraham Accords, it has repeatedly condemned Israel for acting in its own defense both before October 7 and even more disturbingly after that tragic event. It was just a year ago when the UAE led the effort to condemn Israel’s response to the ongoing wave of terror as it brought a resolution condemning Israel before the UN. They were also among those who condemned Israel after Israel launched its ground offensive on Gaza, as they were among those who shouted condemnations against Israel after a Hamas missile blew up a parking lot in a Gazan hospital. Are these truly the peace partners who should be offered the control of Gaza? I would certainly hope that this was not the path chosen for Israel’s future.
To be certain, the AA was an important achievement, but we must not mistakenly assume that an alliance with any Arab or gentile nation is a permanent condition. Alliances come and go as leaderships change and national interests evolve. Yet ceding control of Gaza to the UAE or any other foreign entity would be a permanent arrangement` with that entity no matter how that alliance might strengthen or dissipate. Acquiescing to such insanity would transform any attack emanating from Gaza from being a national crisis within Israel’s control into an international incident outside of Israel’s ability to respond as needed.
Once again, Israel is either a sovereign nation or it is a vassal to others. Be it the UAE, its Sunni neighbors, or the America, making Israel a vassal to any other nation undermines and deligitimizes the entire Zionist enterprise. Israel must remain its own master, choosing its own fate, and controlling its own borders and securing those territories within those borders, regardless of how strong the international support rises for the Jewish State being subdivided once more.
What nation would sublet its security to another nation as is being suggested in this current proposal, particularly when the nation in question has proven itself less than durable in maintaining a strong support for the security interests of Israel since it first became a ally of Israel’s not even four years ago.
I’m surprised by the negative comments here. The idea has a lot of merit and should be given a chance. Assuming the UAE would be interested to pursue it, the US should throw its full support behind it (if they had any brains, that is, something that clearly Biden lost a long time ago).
Many prerequisites would have to be met, though, first and foremost the total elimination of Hamas. The UAE may recoil at the prospect of having to set up a merciless security apparatus to root out Hama’s ideology. To de-Hamazify 2 million people may be more than they would be prepared to handle despite the glowing commercial prospects that would be sure to be achieved without Hamas. They would have to immediately take over the entire educational system corrupted by UNWRA as well as all media in order to re-educate several generations of tragically brainwashed Gazans.
Seriously, if these utopians run out of crackpot ideas, they could turn to Korean drama writers for material for new fantasies, such as:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_2_Hearts
😀
This is what I wrote in a reply to a similar article in Arutz Sheva.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387317
RE: Andrew Pessin’s article on “The Day After”. What an idiotic idea. How about sending all the so-called “Palestinians either to their country, Jordan; or paying passage and sending them to Africa. JEWS SHOULD RESETTLE GAZA because it’s ours; just like Judea and Samaria is ours. Jews are acting like the “spies” in Torah: who spied on the residents of “the Land” and seaw giants. They saw giants because they were themselves midgets!!!!
We have nothing to fear but ourselves.