AlJazeera, Haaretz, and Times of Israel are 3 local print resources that provide some less-laundered insights into what is happening in the broader Israel – Palestine war and the State of the 2 State Solution. See Poison in the Cabinet for the latest attempts at sense -making in the MidEast – And you thought the Republican House of Representatives was Devious Treachery Hard to Decipher.
Hear are four headline stories from Haaretz that are revealing:
1 –Hamas Is Part of the New Palestinian Ethos That Israel Can’t Change
The war has provided the terror group with status that any future Palestinian leader can’t ignore, including the currently imprisoned Marwan Barghouti –This appears to concede that a)Hamas leadership and membership will not be destroyed or rooted out and Hamas will retin lare influence in the surviving 5,000,000 ++ Palestinian population
2 – Disillusioned, Disappointed and Angry, Even Netanyahu’s Own Party Is Starting to Turn on Him -Some are vocal, others are silent, but a growing number are starting to see him as a burden, not an asset. Either way, one Likudnik, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, remains the government’s champion at noxious emissions– beyond the Knesset Gossip, there is growing substance to the fragility of Netanyahu’s standing not just in Israel as well in Washington, European, and Arab capitals. Ditto for the IDF that cant keep West Bank safe for Palestiians when they need to show integriry.
3 – A Population Transfer Under the Cover of War: A Visit to the Forsaken Land of Settler Militias. Since the start of the war, residents of 16 Palestinian shepherding communities have been forced out of their villages by settlers. The South Hebron Hills are now being ruled effectively by local defense squads, made up in many cases by violent settlers in uniform who are committing a population transfer – this is the failure of the IDF to protect West Bank Palestinians as far Rightists Bezalel Smotrich runs rampant. More broadly pulverizing Gaza everywhere and making it unlivable is a key ‘undisclosed” goal of Netanyahu and IDF leadership.
4 – Israeli Rightists Are Trying to Reframe a Gaza Population Transfer as a ‘Moral Act’
The idea of expelling Arabs to other countries was once linked to Meir Kahane and other far-right radicals, and thus considered anathema by most Israelis. Now, to the delight of right-wingers, the idea is gaining traction as a ‘moral’ solution to the war – This is the ultimate one-State Solution of Ben Gurion and Netanyahu – expel all the Palestinians from a fully Jewish controlled and populated Judea.
5 – There’s Only One Viable Postwar Strategy for Gaza, but diehard Zionist Netanyahu Has Other Plans. The real battle is underway in Jerusalem, not Gaza. The Israeli mainstream and the Biden administration realize that the only reasonable course of action is to dismantle Hamas and transfer Gaza’s management to an international force and the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu and the messianic right disagree – So the postwar diplomatic battle has begun. And now that Biden has mandated a 2 State solution – suddenly the IDF/Netanyahu battle plan calls for the invasion of the all of South Gaza -as much as to bombard it to smithereens “in the pursuit of Hamas” as to make all of Gaza demolished and unlivable. And with Israel not responsible for the Security of Gaza what international force will take on that thankless task? Not Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab states according to the NYTtimes.
So Haaretz pieces together the puzzle – Who in Israel will champion a real 2-State Solution. Israelis already killed the best candidate, Premier Yitzhak Rabin… and that was 30 years ago.