Gaza and the isolation of Israel

4 min read EUGENIO GARCIA GASCON 0 comments

EUGENIO GARCIA GASCON

On September 16, the Israeli army, following instructions from Benjamin Netanyahu, launched a ground offensive, duly supported by air force, against Gaza City, one of the last Palestinian strongholds in the Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people were still living that day. They have been advised to leave the area and head south.

The Strip's population, currently around 2,3 million, lives concentrated in certain southern areas largely designated by the Israeli army as safe, although dozens of civilians die there every day, even when they go to seek the scarce food that Israel authorizes and distributes to the population through a US company closely linked to Israel.

It's clear that Netanyahu's goal is to expel the Palestinians, either in whole or in part, and everything indicates that he will not stop his operations until he achieves this goal. Military sources say the ongoing operation is scheduled to last until December, although this estimate could be revised along the way. There's no doubt that if necessary—that is, if the "voluntary" deportation of the Palestinians hasn't taken place by then—the guns won't fall silent.

The operation began just one day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel, with Washington's approval. In the days leading up to it, the country was gripped by yet another debate about the possible expulsion of Palestinians and the annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank, aiming to put an end to the Palestinian dream once and for all.

In Washington, they have said they don't see a solution to the crisis this year. In fact, the latest peace plan presented by President Donald Trump is still theoretically on Netanyahu's desk, but he hasn't even deigned to respond. There is no doubt that the prime minister is interested in continuing the war until the population is deported.

Israeli media have been talking for months about countries that could host the expelled Palestinians, such as Indonesia, Sudan, and Libya, among others, countries that would receive economic and political benefits from the United States. Israel, for its part, insists that it is only considering a "voluntary" departure for the Palestinians, while relentlessly bombing civilian targets, even in areas that Israel itself has declared safe for refugees.

In this context, the prime minister's unusual speech just one day before the start of the operation should not go unnoticed. Netanyahu prophesied that Israel faces an international smear campaign driven by Qatar and China, which will force the Jewish state to live in conditions of "isolation" in the immediate future.

The prophecy maintains that an international campaign against Israel is inevitable, an argument that could be related to Israeli ambitions to deport Palestinians en masse and "voluntarily" to third countries. It also said that the growing Muslim minorities in Europe for the first time are influencing the West's negative policies toward the Jewish state.

It appears Netanyahu has decided to move forward with plans for mass deportations, an initiative supported by the Trump administration, which has said it wants to create a Riviera in the Gaza Strip. It should not be forgotten that many of Netanyahu's ministers, such as Smotrich and Ben Gvir, regularly speak of mass deportations, and that their words are never corrected by the prime minister.

The army has warned that the operation could result in the deaths of "dozens of soldiers" in the short term, or even the deaths of some of the twenty prisoners still being held by Hamas militants. However, Netanyahu has ignored those urging him to focus on the prisoner exchange and ending the war.

This is certainly one of the most dramatic moments for the State of Israel since its establishment in 1948, and Netanyahu's behavior does not help resolve it in a relatively peaceful manner. Undoubtedly, those who have the most to lose are the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, even if Israel's image is damaged for some time.

Trump's presence in Washington is pushing Netanyahu to move forward in order to redeem himself before the Jewish citizens who were shocked two years ago by the Hamas operation that left 1.200 dead. Trump is currently greenlighting each of Netanyahu's initiatives, and this doesn't seem likely to change.