|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Vered Weiss
On Tuesday, a Qatari newspaper published a proposal that Hamas is willing to discuss that involves a committee controlling Gaza after the war and supervised by the United States, Ynet reports.
The paper printed the “Community Support Committee for the Management of the Gaza Strip” document, which proposes a committee to oversee Gaza after the war under US supervision.
Following discussions between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo last Saturday, it was proposed that a committee of experts would govern Gaza with the supervision of US officials.
The plan, which Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has not yet approved, would include a committee in charge of health, the economy, education, agriculture, essential services, and the ongoing reconstruction efforts.
The structure includes a committee of 10 to 15 members chosen for integrity and transparency. At the head will be a president, a vice president, and officials who will specialize in education, health, economic issues, local governance, reconstruction, and communication with foreign entities.
In addition, an official will be responsible for oversight of the Rafah border where Hamas smuggled weapons into Gaza leading up to the war.
If Hamas officially approves the proposal, it would mark a dramatic change from the terror group’s former insistence on having complete control over Gaza and its rejection of agreements involving cooperation with international entities.
The proposal is reminiscent of the ceasefire in Lebanon, which has international oversight of the southern region.
However, such a proposal may fall short of Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas, and Israel may want military control over areas of Gaza, particularly the Philadelphi corridor, as articulated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has declared that Israel must control this nine-mile-long line or else Hamas will easily rearm, rebuild, and become a new “existential” threat to the Jewish state within a few years’ time. Most of the Israeli public agrees that holding the Corridor is of utmost importance to Israel’s security.
In other news, World Israel News also reported that Israeli leaders warned Beirut Tuesday that if the current ceasefire with Hezbollah fails due to Lebanon’s failure to enforce the truce in its territory, Israel will hold the Lebanese government responsible.
On Monday, Hezbollah terrorists shelled Mount Dov, inside Israeli territory, the most significant breach of the ceasefire since it went into effect last Wednesday.
A day later, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) issued a statement, warning that should the truce continue to be violated and the ceasefire agreement collapse, Israel will not limit its retaliatory strikes to Hezbollah itself, but will instead hold the Lebanese government responsible.
“There will no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon,” Katz said while visiting Israel’s northern border Tuesday.
“We will work with all our might to enforce all the understandings of the ceasefire agreement, and we show maximum response and zero tolerance.”
“Yesterday was the first test, the shooting at Mount Dov. We reacted strongly and this is exactly what we will do, and we will not allow Hezbollah to return to the old methods they had, such as the [Hezbollah] tent that was set up and not attacked.”
Katz demanded that Beirut “authorize the Lebanese army to enforce their part, to keep Hezbollah away beyond the Litani and to dismantle all the infrastructure.”
