For months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu avoided any detailed public debate on the future of Gaza after the war. Trying to appease both his far-right allies, who seek to rebuild Israeli settlements in Gaza, and Israel’s foreign partners, who want Gaza returned to Palestinian governance, Mr. Netanyahu refrained from any specific declaration.
However, behind the scenes, senior officials in his office have been mulling a sweeping plan for post-war Gaza, in which Israel would propose sharing surveillance of the territory with an alliance of Arab countries, including Egypt, Saudi Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. as well as in the United States, according to three Israeli officials and five people who discussed the plan with members of the Israeli government.
Under the proposal, Israel would do so in exchange for normalized relations between itself and Saudi Arabia, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.
Far-right members of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition will almost certainly reject such an idea, as will the Arab countries mentioned as possible participants. But it is the clearest sign that officials at the highest levels of the Israeli government are thinking about the future of Gaza after the war, even if they say little about it in public, and it could be a starting point for more future negotiations.
The revelation comes amid intense international efforts to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire that could eventually become a permanent truth, and it follows growing pressure on Israel to plan the following. Israel’s reluctance to determine how to govern Gaza has created a power vacuum in much of the territory, leading to anarchy and worsening the dire humanitarian situation.
Arab officials and analysts have called the power-sharing plan unworkable because it does not create an explicit path to Palestinian statehood, which the Emirati and Saudi governments say is a prerequisite for their involvement in Palestinian statehood planning. ‘after war. But others have cautiously welcomed the proposal because it suggests at least greater flexibility on the part of Israeli leaders than their public statements suggest.
Under the proposal, the Arab-Israeli alliance, working with the United States, would appoint leaders from Gaza to redevelop the devastated territory, reform its education system and maintain order. After seven to 10 years, the alliance would allow Gazans to vote on whether they want to be absorbed into a united Palestinian administration that would govern both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the proposal. In the meantime, the plan suggests, the Israeli army could continue to operate inside Gaza.
The proposal does not explicitly specify whether this united administration would constitute a sovereign Palestinian state or whether it would include the Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the West Bank. Publicly, Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected the idea of full Palestinian sovereignty and has all but ruled out Palestinian Authority involvement.
The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment.
The proposal lacks detail and has not been formally adopted by the Israeli government, which has publicly presented only a vague vision under which Israel would retain greater control over post-war Gaza.
Emirati and Saudi officials and analysts said the new proposal would not guarantee the involvement of Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, particularly because it would not guarantee Palestinian sovereignty and allow continued Israeli military operations inside Gaza. The Saudi government has said it will not normalize relations with Israel unless Israeli leaders take irrevocable steps toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
“The details need to be laid out more explicitly in a way that is ‘irreversible,'” said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi commentator considered close to the Saudi royal court. “The problem is that Israelis have a habit of hiding behind ambiguous terms, so I think the Saudi government would seek such clarity. »
Still, the proposal constitutes the most detailed plan for postwar Gaza that Israeli officials have discussed, and parts of it align with ideas expressed by Arab leaders, both publicly and privately.
Thomas R. Nides, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel who was consulted on the plan, said the proposal was important because it revealed internal Israeli thinking.
“This shows that despite the public attitude of the Israeli government, behind the scenes, Israeli officials are thinking seriously about what post-war Gaza would look like,” Mr. Nides said. “Clearly, the devil is in the details, which may not be enough to convince Arab partners like the UAE to commit to this plan. And nothing can happen until the hostages are released and a ceasefire is established.”
The disclosure of the plan comes amid renewed efforts to report the truth between Israel and Hamas.
A group of mostly Israeli businessmen, some close to Mr. Netanyahu, hatched the plan in November. The proposal was first formally proposed to Israeli officials in Mr. Netanyahu’s office in December, according to one of the government officials.
Two of the officials said the plan was still under consideration at the highest levels of the Israeli government, although it could only be implemented after Hamas was defeated and the remaining hostages in Gaza were freed.
Hamas retains full control of parts of southern Gaza, despite a devastating Israeli military campaign that has killed more than 34,000 people, according to local officials; brought parts of the territory to the brink of famine; and left much of Gaza in ruins.
The businessmen, who asked to remain anonymous so as not to compromise their ability to promote the idea, said they had briefed officials in several Arab and Western governments, including the United States, Egypt , Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, of the project. .
It was also shown to Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who heads an institute advising the Saudi government on modernization projects. A Palestinian businessman, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his relatives from reprisals in Gaza, also helped promote the idea to U.S. officials.
Asked about the plan, the UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Emirati government “will not participate in any reconstruction efforts in Gaza until there is agreement on a road map for a political solution to the conflict, which includes a transparent and timely agreement.” and binding on all parties and which leads to the establishment of the two-State solution, with an independent Palestinian State.
A Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity to comply with government protocol, rejected the proposal because it did not create a “credible and irreversible path” to a Palestinian state and did not guarantee Palestinian involvement. Palestinian Authority. The official also denied that Saudi authorities were previously informed of the plan.
An Egyptian government spokesperson declined to comment.
The businessmen’s goal is to gain international support for the idea in order to persuade Mr. Netanyahu that it would be worth his time to take on the difficult task of winning domestic support for the idea.
Mr Netanyahu’s coalition government could collapse if it formally endorses a plan that does not conclusively rule out the creation of a Palestinian state. Far-right members of his coalition strongly oppose Palestinian sovereignty and want to restore Israeli settlements in Gaza. They threatened to overthrow the government if Mr Netanyahu ended the war in Gaza without eliminating Hamas.
Polls show that a majority of Israelis also oppose the creation of a Palestinian state, which many believe would reward Hamas for carrying out terrorist attacks that killed some 1,200 people on October 7, during the cross-border raid against Israel that started the war.
Fearing both the collapse of his government and the loss of support in a subsequent election campaign, Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly voiced his opposition to a Palestinian state in recent months, pledging to retain Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza.
But analysts and some of his allies say he would be willing to leave open the theoretical possibility of Palestinian sovereignty if it allowed him to sign a historic normalization deal with Saudi Arabia.
Forging diplomatic ties with the most influential Arab state would allow Mr. Netanyahu to restore part of his political legacy, which was tarnished because the Hamas-led raid on Israel, the deadliest attack in the Israeli history, took place under his leadership.
“He wants this legacy,” said Nadav Shtrauchler, an Israeli political analyst and former prime ministerial strategist.
“On the other hand, he doesn’t believe in the two-state solution. Second, he can’t present it to his audience,” Mr. Shtrauchler added.
Adam Rasgon contributed to reporting from Jerusalem, and Julian E. Barnes of Washington.
