David S. Cloud - The Wall Street Journal
A top national security aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that the country could accept a U.S. plan for a revamped Palestinian Authority—which currently governs the West Bank—to also take over the day-to-day administration of Gaza after the war, in a sign that Netanyahu is easing his opposition to the idea under pressure from the Biden administration.
“Israel is aware of the desire of the international community and the countries of the region to integrate the Palestinian Authority the day after Hamas, and we make it clear that the matter will require a fundamental reform of the Palestinian Authority,” Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, wrote in an opinion piece published Thursday on the Arabic-language news site Elaph.
Israel, he added, “is ready for this effort.”
The possible shift in Israel’s postwar plans comes amid communications and power blackouts in the Gaza Strip that have upended the work of aid agencies serving the war-shattered population, slowed emergency workers responding to Israeli bombings and added a new layer of misery for Palestinians already facing shortages of food, water and medicine.
Israel Signals It Could Agree to Palestinian Authority Governing Gaza After the War© Provided by The Wall Street Journal
Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected U.S. suggestions that postwar Gaza should be run by a reformed Palestinian Authority, saying it represents as much of a security threat to Israel as Hamas, the U.S.-designed terror group that controlled Gaza and whose Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel sparked the Israeli invasion.
“After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism,” Netanyahu said on Dec. 12, referring to the Palestinian Authority.
But Hanegbi indicated that a Palestinian Authority that undertakes “fundamental reforms” might be acceptable to Israel, echoing U.S. calls for sweeping changes in the West Bank entity.
“We make it clear that the matter will require a fundamental reform of the Palestinian Authority, which will focus on recognizing its duty to raise the young generation, in Gaza, Ramallah, Jenin and Jericho, in the values of moderation and tolerance, without incitement to violence against Israel,’ he wrote, naming Palestinian towns in the West Bank.
Biden administration officials are pressing the Palestinian Authority to undertake major reforms, purging its aging leadership, setting a timetable for elections and overhauling its security forces—steps they say are needed to build its political support and its ability to govern a place devastated in the fighting.
Palestinian officials and Arab governments are insisting that a lasting cease-fire is necessary in Gaza before they will agree to seriously discuss postwar arrangements, including the steps the U.S. is calling for the Palestinian Authority to take.
Another unresolved hurdle is Israel’s insistence that it will maintain security control in Gaza for an undefined period after its troops withdraw, which many Arab officials say will make governance in Gaza similar to the situation on the West Bank, with Israeli troops conducting frequent raids into areas nominally under Palestinian control.
Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian Authority role in Gaza was intended to help shore up his flagging domestic support, amid calls for his resignation for failing to prevent Hamas’s attack and the government’s early fumbles in handling the crisis, Israeli analysts said.
His rival, Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity party and a former defense minister, has also said that Israel will retain full security control over Gaza and called for local leaders in Gaza, along with a coalition of Arab countries, to assume responsibility for civil administration.
Gantz has never publicly rejected a role for the Palestinian Authority.
Gaza Telecom Blackouts Add to Growing Aid Crisis© Provided by The Wall Street Journal
Gaza Telecom Blackouts Add to Growing Aid Crisis© Provided by The Wall Street Journal
Meanwhile, communications outages are a growing problem in Gaza. Since the Israeli ground offensive began almost two months ago, the telecommunications system has frequently shut down, first intermittently, and then, over the past month, the network has become patchy and inoperable for days at a time, said Paltel Group, which runs Palestinian telecommunications, and Gazans in interviews.
The blackouts have left many Gazans unable to make phone calls, access the internet or send messages, in some cases for days.
In a report Thursday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that phone and internet shutdowns that had lasted for much of this week “jeopardize the already constrained provision of lifesaving assistance.” No longer able to communicate with much of Gaza, the U.N. said it has distributed information about food and other aid with hundreds of thousands of printed brochures and stickers.
U.S. officials said Israel was responsible for the first shutdown, which was accompanied by a barrage of shelling and aerial bombardments before troops invaded on Oct. 27 following the Hamas-led attacks. Israel has declined to comment on the shutdowns, and Paltel has blamed subsequent cessation of services on “the ongoing aggression.”
“We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost,” the company said Wednesday. “Gaza is blacked out again.”
The military impact of the telecom interruptions was unclear. Israeli forces fighting in Gaza rely on their own communications systems that are separate from the civilian network. The effect on Hamas could be more significant, though its fighters and commanders are believed to have shortwave radio and other means to communicate.
The near-total blackout has hampered emergency services, including ambulances trying to reach the injured, residents said.
Amira Hisham, 36 years old, a Gaza City resident, said phone service has been severely limited in recent days, sometimes unavailable for days at a time. She keeps her phone by the window so it can catch any signal when service resumes.
“It’s so hard for us to keep connected with the outside world, sometimes I know nothing about my relatives for days,” she said.
Hisham added: “The worst thing about this is that we hear bombing all the time, and we don’t have internet to know where the bombing is, where the tanks are. Are they getting close? Are we safe? Is there any news about a cease-fire? We know nothing. We feel totally isolated.”
Gaza Telecom Blackouts Add to Growing Aid Crisis© Provided by The Wall Street Journal
NetBlocks, an independent organization that tracks internet flows, said it had detected “a new collapse in connectivity” in Gaza on Wednesday, affecting areas in the south “where telecoms had been partially restored” earlier in the week.
The U.N. said the outages were because of “cuts in the main fiber routes in Khan Younis,” Gaza’s second-largest city where Israeli military officials say they have been focusing their operations in recent days.
Israel has issued evacuation warnings for parts of Khan Younis, posting them in its Arabic-language social-media feeds. It was unclear how many residents were able to read the messages. On Thursday, the Israeli military said there was “ongoing fighting” in Khan Younis, calling for residents to evacuate along a coastal road west of the city. Israeli warplanes struck a compound where fighters were located and destroyed a rocket launcher, it said.
Abeer Ayyoub contributed to this article.
