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Egyptian takeover of Gaza will not work

Reader comment on item: Daniel Pipes: "I don't know of a single Jewish Israeli who wants the warfare to go on!"

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Aug 29, 2014 at 18:46

"Israel's goal is to end the threat coming out of Gaza. This has not yet been achieved, even temporarily. There is much frustration in Israel over this."

Indeed.

"Hamas itself is a jihadi group, so that takeover has already occurred in Gaza. If an even more radical, ISIS-like group (such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) were to replace it, little would change."

True.

"My preferred solution? That the Egyptian government again rules Gaza, as it did from 1949 until 1967. Although the Sisi government is hardly eager to take responsibility for Gaza, it also worries about the Muslim Brotherhood having a base there from which to attack Egypt, so it might just agree to take this step."

I think this would require a re-negotiation of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979. Egypt cannot be expected to fight HAMAS, Islami Jihad, etc. in Sinai and Gaza while hamstrung by the military provisions of that treaty. In many respects. this would return Egypt to where it was in 1967 -- namely, threatening Israel's existence. In other ways, it resembles the failed 1995 Oslo Accords, which were based on the assumption that the PLO would act as an Israeli ally to fight HAMAS.

In my opinion, Israel needs to directly rule Gaza like a colonial power -- using loyal locals as intermediates. This worked successfully in southern Lebanon, until Ehud Barak and the Israeli people unceremoniously dumped their Christian allies, turning Middle Eastern Christians -- from Greece to Iraq -- against Israel.

I would say that Israel's failure to accomodate non-hostile minorities, such as Arab Christians, has been its singular failure both domestically and internationally. There will be no peace in Israel until this is reversed.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (14) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
The role of Islamic eschatology [53 words]Neville BarnesSep 8, 2014 07:45217653
1Can somebody explain why Israel shoots herself in the foot? [71 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Dian (Dina) Grossman KjaergaardSep 1, 2014 12:20217551
1Propaganda against Islam's public and political stands [228 words]PrashantSep 5, 2014 00:04217551
Response to Dina Grossman's Can somebody explain ... [8 words]SFMar 20, 2015 03:24217551
Give slack - absolutely! But applaud self-goals? [70 words]Dina Grossman KjaergaardMar 26, 2015 15:41217551
Egyptian takeover of Gaza will not work [283 words]Michael S.Aug 29, 2014 18:46217497
Related: Given Turkey's demographics, will Turkey grow more Islamist? [9 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Anon.Aug 29, 2014 17:55217496
Excellent responses [45 words]JIMJFOXAug 29, 2014 05:17217485
War that leads to peace not another war [99 words]NuritGAug 28, 2014 20:39217480
BROKER, CEASE FIRE, FRUSTRATION, STRATEGY AND SCARY FUTURE [276 words]JACQUES HADIDAAug 28, 2014 19:58217478
Timing of Isreal fightiing. [364 words]EmanuelAug 28, 2014 18:00217477
FORGET IT ! [53 words]SunshineAug 28, 2014 16:59217472
Israelis ' friends. [14 words]PermReaderAug 28, 2014 11:56217466
Who's killing whom? [163 words]compugraphdAug 28, 2014 09:53217461

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