Israeli Newspaper: Is there a third goal for the war in Gaza?

Editorial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set two primary goals for the war: eliminating Hamas and returning the kidnapped. So far, neither of these goals has been achieved, but Israel appears to be pushing forward with a third goal, which is the permanent occupation of the northern Gaza Strip.

As happened during the occupation of the West Bank, Israel creates events on the ground through its army, based on urgent security considerations, and in parallel, it uses the settlement project and its representatives in the Knesset and in the government, who exploit every opportunity in order to achieve their regional aspirations.

In fact, a proposal for decisions was put on the government's agenda this week, entitled "Increasing the government's powers in the area of settlements." The goal is to transfer responsibility for the Settlements Department from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Minister of Settlements and National Missions, Ewit Struck, from the Religious Zionism Party, noting that financial control over the department’s activities will, from now on, be carried out from the department, and not from an entity outside it. In other words, the goal is to remove restrictions imposed on the Settlement Division, which acts as an arm of the government and the Zionist Histadrut in the interest of sensitive investments beyond the Green Line. Ostensibly, this means “only” the settlements in the West Bank. 

The government appears to be implementing an agreement reached in the coalition agreement with the Religious Zionism Party, long before October 7. But against the backdrop of calls to prevent the return of Palestinians to the northern Gaza Strip, and the call for Jewish settlement, transferring the settlement department to Minister Struck could be used as a basis for quickly establishing settlements in the northern Gaza Strip.

It is not only the settlement project and its arms in the government that are preparing to establish a Jewish presence in Gaza for a long time. The army is also pushing forward with two projects that indicate readiness for a long stay in the Strip: establishing a security zone adjacent to the border fence, one kilometer wide, and extending over 16% of the Strip’s territory; Creating a corridor of control separating the northern and southern Gaza Strip, and allowing the Israeli army to supervise movement on strategic roads. This issue is related to the core of the negotiations with Hamas.

The combination of security interests and settlement ambitions constituted an existential catastrophe that led to Israel’s involvement in an occupation that spoiled everything good about it. 

The messianic right, which calls for annexation, must not be allowed to exploit the horrific “massacre,” and the war that broke out in its aftermath, in order to cancel the disengagement [from Gaza, in 2005] and push forward a second Nakba, with the Israeli army remaining in Gaza. All this while abandoning the kidnapped people. There is an urgent need to overthrow this government, and whoever heads it, because, every day, they deepen the hole into which they dropped Israel.