Israeli journalist Ben Caspit says that Israel, “after its war against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas),” has three main options for managing Gaza, all of which face notable obstacles.

Ben Caspit pointed out - in a report on the American Al-Monitor news website - that Israel is far from knowing what to do about Gaza after eliminating, in theory, Hamas.

He said that a former security source told him - on condition of anonymity - that the three options before Israel: “The first is excellent, the second is bad, and the third is not bad, but it is unrealistic.”

The option of annexation by Egypt

The first option, which enjoys the greatest support among Israeli decision-makers, is for Egypt to control the Gaza Strip in exchange for complete forgiveness of its huge foreign debt. The writer said that when the Israelis and Egyptians were negotiating the Camp David Treaty in the late 1970s, the Israelis begged the then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to restore Gaza, which was administered by Egypt until 1967, but Sadat refused. After more than four decades, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi also rejected all requests, pleas and temptations presented to him.

The writer quoted the former security source as saying that the Americans and Israelis, as well as some Gulf states, have not yet abandoned the Egyptian option, and efforts are still being made to convince the parties concerned.

The proposals in this option include rebuilding Gaza south of its current location instead of rebuilding in areas of devastation left by Israeli bombs, transferring some of its residents to Arab countries or other countries, and leaving the rest in rebuilt Gaza.

The writer explained that the Egyptians responded angrily to these ideas. The Israeli government commissioned former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to find a way to move the Egyptians in the desired direction. Cohen activated his many relationships, visited countries in the region and formulated proposals, but to no avail. The Egyptians remain firm in their position.

Ben Caspit quoted a senior Israeli political source as saying that the Egyptians believe that adding more than 2 million Palestinians to Egypt’s population will awaken the Muslim Brotherhood and may cause a revolution in Egypt. “They would rather bankrupt Egypt than be exposed to that.”

The second option, the writer says, is the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, which many Israeli decision-makers consider a bad idea, because it undermines the government’s ultimate goal of severing all ties between it and Gaza: “No Palestinian workers in Israel, and no Israeli water supplies to Gaza.” "No electricity, no fuel, no trade, nothing. After what they did to us. They can forget us."

Ben Caspit explained that there are “many political interests at play here.” The Israeli political right strongly opposes the Palestinian Authority’s control of Gaza, for fear of uniting the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank under a joint leadership, because this would put an end to the Palestinian division, and It could revive the possibility of holding political negotiations on a Palestinian state.

The Israeli writer commented that the political right has good reason to be concerned. After the attack of last October 7, there is a rare popular consensus in Israel that the disengagement from Gaza, which was initiated by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005, must be completed, and that the rule of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza will not end the relationship between Israel and the Gaza Strip, but may even strengthen it.

International coalition

The third option - according to Ben Caspit - is to hand over the keys to an international coalition consisting of Arab countries, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, the United Nations, or all of them.

A senior Israeli political source told the writer that this option seems romantic, but it is difficult to achieve, as those who run Gaza must participate in its management and have a real interest, not just be guests.

Artificial island

One of the solutions that Ben Caspit described as creative, and which is being proposed within the third option, is the establishment of a huge artificial island off the coast of Gaza.

A former senior security official told the site that this would be cheaper and faster than rebuilding the Gaza Strip, as the technology, means and money are there, "and the people of Gaza will get new land with effective infrastructure. There will be no land borders between Israel and Gaza."

The source warned that “any attempt to rebuild Gaza is doomed to failure, given the huge network of underground tunnels in which everything could collapse,” and believed that the idea of “this island may be a good solution.”

Source: Al-Monitor