Op-Ed video: Why Israel's strategies in Gaza are doomed to fail
Ilan Pappe, a distinguished professor of history, and director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, has repeatedly criticised Israel’s post-war plans for Gaza since the war first erupted.
Israel launched the war immediately after the 7 October attacks by Hamas. At that time, the Israeli government said the operation had two goals: eliminating the Palestinian group and bringing back the hostages taken to Gaza.
Six months into the conflict, neither goal has been reached.
Speaking with Middle East Eye, Pappe said while was difficult to ascertain exactly what Israel was planning to do, there were two dominant strands of thinking amongst Israeli policy makers.
"One is led by the Zionist religious groups that wants to settle Jews in Gaza and expel as many Palestinians from Gaza as possible and to prevent Gaza from retaining its Palestinian character," Pappe said.
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"Then there is the more pragmatic group that is represented by ministers such as [Minister without portfolio Benny] Gantz and maybe even the Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant who wants to annex a small part of Gaza to Israel and expel some of the Palestinians over to the buffer zone that it seems Egypt is willing to build.
"They believe they can destroy the Hamas' military capacity and bring in either a different Palestinian government from the outside or build a local one which isn't Hamas."
Pappe added that Israel would likely continue its war in Gaza for several months unless there was decisive action from the international community, including the Arab and Muslim world.
"The next 15 months means the Israelis will continue to be in Gaza, continue to commit their crimes against the people there, and so much depends on the international reaction, especially the Western reaction, that have the ability to stop it," he said.
"So maybe it's up to the Arab world, the Muslim world, the global south to do something, because the next 15 months, as far as Israel is concerned, is very much of the same and much worse."
The views expressed in this video belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
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