White House Correctly Rejects Egypt’s Gaza Plan – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

The White House has rejected Egypt’s new plan to rebuild Gaza, as a spokesman for the  National Security Council stated that the plan “does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance[s].” 

Under Egypt’s plan, there would be a $53 billion investment to rebuild Gaza, Palestinians would not be displaced, and Gaza would be ruled first by a six-months-long “transitional” technocratic government. But the plan fails any reasonable scrutiny by opening the door to Hamas and Palestinian Authority power in Gaza, and to funding from Islamist Qatar.

Hamas Can’t Rule Gaza

The role of Hamas remains undefined in Egypt’s plan. The plan does not address what happens if Hamas doesn’t surrender its military or political power, and Hamas is not even mentioned once in at least the English version of the plan. While Egypt’s plan stresses the percentages of Gazan schools and hospitals destroyed in the war, it fails to acknowledge how Hamas embedded into these and other civilian locations, nor how to prevent such terrorism from happening again. 

Meanwhile, Qatar and Hamas are pushing for Hamas to be in a consultative role during any transition of power. According to Reuters, “Hamas has agreed it will not field candidates to the Cairo-proposed committee but it would have to give its consent to the tasks, members and the agenda of the committee that would work under the PA’s supervision.”

Representing the camp of sanity, both Israel and the United States do not want Hamas to ever govern Gaza again, and a “top advisor to the Emirati president” and the Arab League’s secretary general have called on Hamas to relinquish power. Sources close to Israel and the United Arab Emirates have stated that those countries are calling for the “immediate” disarmament of Hamas, while Saudi Arabia has also criticized the continued armament of Hamas.

Palestinian Authority, Two-Statism Can’t Rule Gaza

Egypt’s plan envisions that the Palestinian Authority will eventually take over from a technocratic transitory government in Gaza. While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas supports this, the idea is a nonstarter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed the idea of the Palestinian Authority ruling over any of postwar Gaza, and the United States may also “have an understanding” on this as well, according to one of Netanyahu’s senior advisors. The Palestinian Authority has been clear in its support for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, and its media is rife with anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and pro-jihad screeds. A majority of Israelis (and even a majority of Israeli-Arabs) are opposed to the Palestinian Authority having any role in postwar Gaza.

In a related matter, the report also calls for an independent Palestinian state at least 13 times, a nonstarter as well, as this is a dated concept that the ruling government in Israel as well as a majority of Israelis reject.

Qatar Can’t Fund Reconstruction

While Reuters reported that the reconstruction plan would require significant investment from the Gulf States, there is no clear indication on which Gulf States will pony up the funds. If Qatar is a major funding source to Gaza, as it has been in the past, Gaza will remain a hotbed of Islamist terrorism. And Qatar’s public statements on Gaza show that it wouldn’t want anything less than a jihadist future for the enclave. For example, while Israel and the U.S. appear to favor Israel remaining in the first stage of negotiations and extending the current ceasefire in exchange for Hamas releasing all of the hostages (thereby allowing Israel to destroy Hamas afterward), Qatar is likely pushing for Israel to enter the second stage of negotiations with Hamas because this stage calls for Israel’s end to its war in Gaza (and thus the preservation of Hamas). Further, like the Palestinian Authority, Qatar has been clear in its support for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, and its textbooks and media are rife with anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and pro-jihad screeds. 

Terrorists Can’t Run Amok

The plan also punts on the problem of terrorism continuing to exist in Gaza. While the plan acknowledges that “[t]he issue of multiple armed Palestinian factions remains challenging,” it provides no concrete plan for disarmament of those groups.

Given the material flaws of Egypt’s proposal, the best option is for Israel and the Trump administration to hold out for a better deal on the reconstruction of Gaza.

READ MORE:

It’s Not Fair! Disproportionate Deaths in the Middle East

Israel Barely Escapes Another Oct. 7

Israel Gets 3 Hostages, Hamas 183. Don’t Do the Math.