For years, we have feared controlling the Gaza Strip. Now we must put an end to fear and worry. Israeli security and civilian control in the Gaza Strip are essential to ensuring Israel’s security and to achieving the long-term goals of the war.
– Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, The Sovereignty Movement
What we already knew has become clear in recent days: There will not be a governmental vacuum in the Gaza Strip. The IDF’s control over the northern Gaza Strip is weakening, and it can already be seen how Hamas is taking more and more steps of return to the northern Gaza Strip. More and more evidence is reaching social networks and media outlets, of Gazans returning to their homes in the north, and Hamas once again displaying its governmental capabilities, resuming trade in the area, giving tickets, apprehending thieves and looters, and even administering punishments publicly.
Without Israeli security and civilian control, the efforts of our soldiers, which have continued for months and come at a high death toll, will dissipate and be lost. If, G-d forbid, Hamas’s rule fills the vacuum that we will leave in Gaza, we will again return to the deadly consequences of its control.
The meaning of this reality, if, G-d forbid it were to transpire, is that Israel did not achieve the central goal of the war as it was delineated since day one: toppling Hamas and eliminating its threat to the citizens of Israel. The immediate consequence will be that the Jewish residents of the Gaza periphery will be unable to return to their homes, and in the somewhat longer term, we will discover that Israeli deterrence has been severely compromised, and our enemies, who surround Israel from all sides, will seek the next opportunity that presents itself to attack Israel that will appear to them, G-d forbid, like a paper tiger.
All these will lead to a collapse in the confidence of the Israeli public in its government and leadership. Experience teaches us that such a leadership breakdown is liable, G-d forbid, to result in emigration and abandoning of the country in favor of countries abroad.
The United States and political elements in Israel are aware of the danger latent in Hamas rule, and therefore they strive to create an alternative Arab rule. But that rule will be rejected by the residents of Gaza who have been indoctrinated by Hamas, identify with its aspirations, support its objectives, and consider themselves an inseparable part of it.
The notion of creating a division between security control by the Israeli military and civilian control entrusted to an international entity or to the Gazans themselves is an idea that cannot eliminate the threat that will continue to lurk and intensify beneath the surface in Gaza until the day it erupts upon us in another bloody attack, and likely beyond that.
And thus, Israel must maintain control in Gaza over other areas of life as well, such as water, electricity, education, transportation, industry, and reconstruction. Israel should be the one responsible for opening a new chapter in the Gaza education system, a chapter where incitement and hatred of Israel no longer exist. Educational institutions – kindergartens, schools, and universities – must be under close Israeli supervision that will prevent the nurturing of the next generation of terrorists and the development of the next terrorist army.
There is no international force that will do this in our place. Real change will come only when Israel maintains both security and civilian control over the Gaza Strip, and when broad, sovereign Jewish settlement will bolster the control, identification, and security in this region.
Until the day that our full and exclusive Israeli sovereignty over the Gaza Strip will be applied, we must restore Civil Administration to Gaza, as it was established for precisely that purpose in the first place. The Civil Administration is experienced and familiar with dealing with the challenge of control over the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria and it has the ability to do so temporarily in Gaza, by expanding its departments and adding personnel and professionals. The residents of Gaza can be assured of better, more efficient, and more equitable service than they received under tyrannical Hamas rule.
Beginning today, Israel must open exit routes for the residents of Gaza who wish to emigrate to neighboring or distant countries to work and settle there. The gates of Gaza are currently closed to the Gazans, who are imprisoned within the confines of Gaza. Until now, the Hamas stormtroopers have prevented Gazans from leaving, but now Israel can bring them the tidings of liberation and the opportunity to go out into the world in need of workers.
On the other hand, it is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gazans will not be allowed ever again to work in Israeli communities and building sites. They must pay a heavy price in that respect as well, for the October 7th massacre and for the rejoicing and the support they demonstrated in the streets of Gaza on that day and in the days that followed.
For years, we have feared controlling the Gaza Strip. Now we must put an end to fear and worry. We have the power to do so and to ensure a better and more secure future for the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Israeli control in the Gaza Strip will preserve and strengthen the achievements of the war in the long run, as well, restore calm to the south of the country, and elevate Israeli honor that was trampled on the morning of October 7th.
The secret of our existence lies in vision and courage.
With G-d’s help, we will ascend.
