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For Lasting Peace, Keep the IDF in Gaza

(The Dispatch) Cole Aronson and Avi Bell - Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Israel and the U.S. have disagreed about who should run security in Gaza after hostilities calm down. President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken want a multinational force without a substantial Israeli military presence. Prime Minister Netanyahu insists that, whoever is tasked with street-level law and order, the Israel Defense Forces will remain the predominant power inside Gaza. Netanyahu is applying a lesson Israelis have learned since the Oct. 7 massacre: only the IDF can guarantee the security of Israeli civilians, precluding the need for operations like Israel's current campaign against Hamas. The IDF's absence from Gaza permitted Hamas to recruit, build an elaborate command structure and a huge tunnel network, and plan operations like the Oct. 7 massacre. Hamas received a majority in the 2006 parliamentary elections, and most Gazans still support the Oct. 7th massacre. The West Bank is different. Although Israel has fought terrorist cells in the northern cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nablus, nothing like Gaza-grade destruction has been visited upon West Bank Palestinians. West Bank terrorism is simply less threatening to Israelis because over two decades of ongoing Israeli operations have kept terror networks from forming. Cole Aronson is a journalist based in Jerusalem. Avi Bell is a professor of law at Bar-Ilan University.
2024-08-15 00:00:00
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