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Hamas Must Decide: Peace and Reconstruction, or War Without Limit

(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Oded Ailam - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the backing of the Trump administration, is presenting a new ceasefire initiative. Israel would agree to withdraw from large parts of Gaza and allow for a negotiated framework primarily based on Egypt's initiative. In return, Hamas would release all hostages. The deal envisions Gaza without Hamas's grip but also without the Palestinian Authority (PA), marking a sharp divergence from Cairo's blueprint. This initiative comes with an unmistakable warning. If Hamas rejects the deal, Israel will expand its military operations inside Gaza, aiming to impose the terms by force. One senior Israeli official described the plan as "peace and reconstruction, or war without limit." The offer should include the end of Hamas and any other terror militias, enforced by international monitors and the IDF, and a transitional authority supported by regional partners and vetted by international bodies, excluding both Hamas and the PA, but rooted in local Palestinian leadership. Economic revival must be more than pouring concrete, it must reshape mindsets as well. Gaza's version of post-war rehabilitation should have a vision - to make a Gaza that looks more like Dubai than Tehran. This would require a reconstruction fund overseen by neutral actors, pumping in capital for infrastructure and jobs, but with one condition: participation in a civic, de-radicalizing re-education process. Recovery means learning to stand upright without leaning on militias or martyrdom. The writer, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad, is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center.
2025-08-28 00:00:00
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