PM Netanyahu in WSJ OpEd: Temporary security zone. Israeli overriding security responsibility over Gaza for the foreseeable future, PA not relevant for Gaza

PM Netanyahu in WSJ OpEd: Temporary security zone. Israeli overriding
security responsibility over Gaza for the foreseeable future, PA not
relevant for Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu: Our Three Prerequisites for Peace
We must destroy Hamas, demilitarize Gaza and deradicalize the whole of
Palestinian society.
By Benjamin Netanyahu
Wall Street Journal Dec. 25, 2023 1:19 pm ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/benjamin-netanyahu-our-three-prerequisites-for-
peace-gaza-israel-bff895bd

Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society
must be deradicalized. These are the three prerequisites for peace between
Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza.

First, Hamas, a key Iranian proxy, must be destroyed. The U.S., U.K.,
France, Germany and many other countries support Israel’s intention to
demolish the terror group. To achieve that goal, its military capabilities
must be dismantled and its political rule over Gaza must end. Hamas’s
leaders have vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre “again and again.” That is
why their destruction is the only proportional response to prevent the
repeat of such horrific atrocities. Anything less guarantees more war and
more bloodshed.

In destroying Hamas, Israel will continue to act in full compliance with
international law. This is especially challenging because an integral part
of Hamas’s strategy is to use Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas
places its terrorist infrastructure inside and underneath homes, hospitals,
mosques, schools and other civilian sites, deliberately putting the
Palestinian population at risk.

Israel does its best to minimize civilian casualties by dropping leaflets,
sending text messages and using other means to warn Gazans to get out of
harm’s way. Hamas by contrast does its utmost to keep Palestinians in harm’s
way-often at gunpoint.

Unjustly blaming Israel for these casualties will only encourage Hamas and
other terror organizations around the world to use human shields. To render
this cruel and cynical strategy ineffective, the international community
must place the blame for these casualties squarely on Hamas. It must
recognize that

Israel is fighting the bigger battle of the civilized war against barbarism.

Second, Gaza must be demilitarized. Israel must ensure that the territory is
never again used as a base to attack it. Among other things, this will
require establishing a temporary security zone on the perimeter of Gaza and
an inspection mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt that meets
Israel’s security needs and prevents smuggling of weapons into the
territory.

The expectation that the Palestinian Authority will demilitarize Gaza is a
pipe dream. It currently funds and glorifies terrorism in Judea and Samaria
and educates Palestinian children to seek the destruction of Israel. Not
surprisingly it has shown neither the capability nor the will to
demilitarize Gaza. It failed to do
so before Hamas booted it out of the territory in 2007, and it has failed to
do so in the territories under its control today. For the foreseeable future
Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza.

Third, Gaza will have to be deradicalized. Schools must teach children to
cherish life rather than death, and imams must cease to preach for the
murder of Jews. Palestinian civil society needs to be transformed so that
its people support fighting terrorism rather than funding it.

That will likely require courageous and moral leadership. Palestinian
Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas can’t even bring himself to condemn the Oct.
7 atrocities. Several of his ministers deny that the murders and rapes
happened or accuse Israel of perpetrating these horrific crimes against its
own people.

Another threatened that a similar attack would be carried out in Judea and
Samaria.

Successful deradicalization took place in Germany and Japan after the Allied
victory in World War II. Today, both nations are great allies of the U.S.
and promote peace, stability and prosperity in Europe and Asia.

More recently, since the 9/11 attacks, visionary Arab leaders in the Gulf
have led efforts to deradicalize their societies and transform their
countries. Israel has since forged the historic Abraham Accords and today
enjoys peace agreements with six Arab states. Such a cultural transformation
will be possible in Gaza only among Palestinians who don’t seek the
destruction of Israel.

Once Hamas is destroyed, Gaza is demilitarized and Palestinian society
begins a deradicalization process, Gaza can be rebuilt and the prospects of
a broader peace in the Middle East will become a reality.

________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il