(NewsInsights.org) – As the recent UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and a return of hostages in Gaza shows, the world is pushing toward a peaceful resolution between Israel and the Palestinian people of Gaza. On Christmas day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote an op/ed in The Wall Street Journal, describing and justifying the Jewish state’s three pre-requisites for peace to the American people and the world.
First, Netanyahu said Israel must destroy Hamas, which he described as a proxy for Iran. The prime minister said his country had support from the US, the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, France, and many other countries to achieve this goal. He said Hamas’ leaders had vowed to perpetrate attacks on Israel repeatedly like the one they instigated on October 7, meaning armed conflict would continue unless Israel removed the militant group from Gaza.
Additionally, Netanyahu argued that Hamas held the Palestinian people hostage as unwilling human shields by hiding operations under homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques. His argument led to his second condition: the demilitarization of Gaza. He claimed Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were doing their best to minimize civilian casualties even as Hamas put Palestinians at risk.
He proposed to make Gaza a temporary security zone under Israeli control subject to border inspections to prevent arms smuggling. Netanyahu explained that the Palestinian Authority, which Hamas supplanted in 2007 in Gaza, has shown no initiative in demilitarizing or policing areas in Judea and Samaria where it still holds power, so he didn’t trust the body to control the situation in Gaza.
Finally, Netanyahu said Israelis and Palestinians could only achieve a lasting peace if the people of Gaza undertook deradicalization. The prime minister held Germany and Japan up as examples of countries that completely changed their philosophies toward the Allied Powers after World War II and have become indispensable world partners. A more recent example included visionary leaders in the Arabian Gulf who transformed their nations post 9/11 and made the Abraham Accords possible.
In his summary, Netanyahu prefaced the possibility of peace and the reconstruction of Gaza by completing the first two points and beginning the third. However, he emphasized it would require two cultures to accept each other and not seek to destroy the other.
Copyright 2023, NewsInsights.org
