What future remains for Palestine?

    ‘Not the end of the war in Gaza’, but is it even ‘the beginning of the end’?

    With arbitrary arrests and plans for mass expulsions, Israel’s far-right government is using the war against Hamas as cover for settling the Palestinian question once and for all, in Gaza and the West Bank.

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    Under siege: the occupation of Hebron worsens as Israeli settlers walk the streets of its Old City under the protection of the IDF, Hebron, West Bank, 9 March 2024

    Amer Shallodi · Anadolu · Getty

    It was clear within hours that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza on 16 October wouldn’t bring an end to the war any closer; as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu put it, ‘This is not the end of the war in Gaza, it is the beginning of the end.’ He made it plain that he still favours the use of force over negotiations to free the Israeli hostages. Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s politburo and leader of the Palestinian negotiating team, said no hostages would be freed without a ceasefire involving the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

    For both sides, it’s a matter of political survival: Hamas won’t accept peace on unfavourable terms given the heavy price the people of Gaza have paid since 7 October 2023 and the bleak future facing the Palestinian territories. Netanyahu, between trials for corruption and polls forecasting uncertain election prospects, is struggling to hold his far-right coalition together.

    Tel Aviv’s strategy doesn’t suggest a peace agreement is imminent. Israel’s leaders oppose both the deployment of international peacekeepers and the PA’s return to power, and are pressing for at least some troops to stay on in Gaza, especially to control the border with Egypt and border crossings with Israel. The Israeli army (IDF) is thought to have taken control of at least 26% of the Gaza Strip, building bases and roads like the Netzarim corridor, which cuts the enclave in two. Dividing up the territory in this way makes it possible to screen Palestinians authorised to move to the north of the Strip and better organise its administration.

    Most of all, this reinforced military presence could facilitate the eventual return of Israeli settlers. In the past few months, conferences have been held in Israel advocating resettlement (especially of northern Gaza) as soon as the territory is ‘cleaned up’: the most recent such event, organised by Likud, took place on 21 October. This dynamic seems (...)

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    Thomas Vescovi

    Thomas Vescovi is a doctoral student in political science and a member of Yaani.fr’s editorial committee.

    Translated by Charles Goulden

    (1Michel Barnier, “Le grand secret de l’élection présidentielle”, Libération, 12 February 2002.

    (2Ibid.

    (3Denis Sieffert, “Barcelone in et off”, Politis, 21 March 2002

    (4Thierry Maliniak, “Menacée de pannes de courant, l’Espagne se fâche contre ses ’electras’”, La Tribune, 21 February 2002.

    (5Interview with Carl Wood, La Vanguardia, Barcelona, 14 March 2002.

    (6“Barcelona Bore”, Financial Times, 18 March 2002

    (7Yves Messarovitch, “L’Europe et l’impôt”, Le Figaro Magazine, 26 February 2002.

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