The Chinese word “crisis” is composed of the characters for “tragedy” and “opportunity.” While not everyone chooses tragedy, nor is everyone wise enough to seize it as an opportunity, it certainly can be transformed into opportunity. The “Swords of Iron” war imposed upon Israel presents an opportunity to eliminate terrorism, restore Israeli control over all entry and exit points from the Gaza Strip, neutralize the destructive influence of UNRWA on the children of the region, and call on the international refugee organization to grant asylum to the war refugees and encourage the absorption of many Gazan refugees outside the territory.

Gaza Is Part of Jewish History

Gaza has been a part of Jewish history for thousands of years, with a Jewish presence since the Hasmonean period. The Jewish community lived on the hill overlooking the city from the east, known as Ali al-Muntar. Gaza served as a winter city for the Jews of Hebron, and the connection between the two communities was close and strong. During the riots of 1936, the Jewish community was compelled to leave the city, and the last residents departed in 1937. The Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip was renewed after the Six-Day War and was evacuated only during the disengagement in 2005. Since then, until the outbreak of the “Swords of Iron” war, the Gaza Strip has become the capital of global Islamist terrorism.

Gazans see themselves as temporary residents

It is worth noting that before the outbreak of the “Swords of Iron” war, about 70% of the population in the Gaza Strip considered themselves temporary residents in the territory – descendants of refugees from 1948. Most of them resided in eight refugee camps scattered throughout the Gaza Strip. Many actively participated in return marches, aiming to perpetuate their aspiration to return to villages and cities abandoned in Israel, including Ashdod, Majdal Asqalan, Beer al-Sabe, and Jaffa. The descendants of the refugee camps in the Gaza Strip form the core of Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements and their leaders.

In 1973, al-Yazouri assisted Yassin in establishing the Islamic Association (Jam’iyyat al-Mujama al-Islami), a religious welfare organization operating on the principle of consensus to reintegrate the population into the bosom of Islam. In 1987, it evolved into the Hamas movement. Yassin integrated the association members into professional unions in their field of work, enabling the association to control the Gaza doctors’ union, UNRWA teachers and workers’ organizations, and the universities. The Mujama, which later became Hamas, concentrated all the social, humanitarian aid, and welfare activities of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in the Gaza Strip under a religious umbrella. This, alongside military activity, led to Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the democratic choice of Hamas by its residents, its military takeover in 2007, and the creation of the murderous terrorist machine that Israel dealt with for years, including the tragic events during the summer of  2014.

Neve Dekalim in Gush Katif, 'a thousand-year-old Jewish presence in Gaza'
photo: Yakob Ben-Avraham

Even the Educators Are Guilty

The massacre on October 7th and the abduction of civilians necessitated Israel to eliminate the military wing members of Hamas, as well as to punish the civilian infrastructure of the organization, which served as “its social and educational arm.”

Israel has established a special unit to hold accountable those responsible for the crimes on October 7th, but it is crucial to ensure that this list includes all education system employees of Hamas, who have indoctrinated generations of children and youth to hate Israel – from kindergartens, through elementary and high schools, to universities. The system encouraged them to join their ranks and utilized them over the years for the release of incendiary kites and balloons towards Israeli territory.

All the UNRWA schools that strengthened hatred towards Israel must lose their ability to continue operating, both in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere. The media, film industry, culture, judicial system, and those who preach in mosques all contributed to the same murderous mechanism that led to the October 7th massacre and the horrifying acts in which both Hamas terrorists and many Gaza residents were involved. All of them should be punished by being removed from the Gaza Strip. The leaders among them, including influencers and opinion leaders, should be tried and incarcerated.

The Failure of UNRWA

UNRWA failed in handling the refugees of 1948. Its education system, which operated for decades, indoctrinated hatred towards Israel and Jews, blaming them for dispossession and theft of Palestinian lands. This education system led not only Hamas activists but also “innocent residents” (the general public) to commit heinous acts without precedent. Therefore, Israel should lead an initiative to close the organization and to revoke the unique status of 1948 refugees and their descendants  which perpetuates their vulnerability and harms refugees and their neighbors. Israel must act to identify the descendants of 1948 refugees residing in the Gaza Strip.

Following this, Israel should form an international coalition that acknowledges the possibility of granting regular refugee status to the descendants of 1948 refugees, with the assistance of the UN Refugee Agency, while revoking UNRWA’s mandate.

Refugees of ‘23

In addition to the above, Israel should demand that the UN Refugee Agency address the issue of 2023 refugees. Among other things, it should ensure their transfer from conflict and danger zones to safe places worldwide, similar to the treatment of residents in other endangered areas, such as Armenians, Syrians, Ukrainians, etc., which is currently happening.

Israel should establish an international compensation fund that rewards organizations encouraging the recruitment of Gaza labor migrants and supports countries that receive Gaza refugees within their borders.

Israel needs to define non-1948 Gazan residents as refugees of the “Muwajaha” war, in which Hamas opened the battle and lost. Israel should call on the world to allow these war refugees to relocate peacefully from the Gaza Strip to a safe haven, just as Israel accepted tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine last year.

Israel should lead the establishment of a mechanism to encourage the re-settlement of Gazans worldwide. It cannot be that residents seeking to leave the Gaza Strip are hindered, serving as pawns in the hands of forces wishing to perpetuate the state of conflict between Israel and its neighbors.

Various countries, including Canada, Jordan, Egypt, and Scotland, have expressed readiness to accept a certain number of refugees from the Gaza Strip. As recent studies show, a considerable percentage of Gaza residents are interested in leaving. Therefore, it is crucial to highlight the economic rationale for transferring goods from the East to Europe through Jordan and Israel. As this trade route develops, reducing dependence on the Russia-Iran route, the European interest in funding the relocation of Gaza 23′ refugees to other places will increase.

Islamic University in Gaza, 'Education is also responsible'
photo: Manar al Zraiy

The True Motivations of the Conflict

However, leaders of Hamas, along with other partners of the Axis of Evil such as Iran, do not want to see normalization occur, and are actively working against it. This is one of the reasons why Iran encourages attacks on Israel, expressed in official statements and efforts to frustrate normalization with Saudi Arabia, and it is one of the reasons for Hamas attacks at this time.

Russia, being a close ally of Iran, supplied nearly 50% of European gas until the war in Ukraine. Due to the sanctions imposed on Russia, the volume has significantly decreased, and only the European winter demand prevents them from completely cutting off Russian gas. Due to lack of choice, Europeans currently allow Russia to supply 20% of their gas consumption.

In light of these circumstances, the geopolitical significance of the Saudi-Emirati-Israeli gas axis to Europe and various Middle Eastern countries, such as Jordan and Egypt suffering from trade disruptions due to attacks on shipping routes, becomes clear. Once the transportation-economic-land axis from India to Europe, passing through Jordan and Israel, is established, it will be possible to significantly neutralize the influence of Russia and Iran. This is the reason why Axis of Evil countries are doing everything to thwart normalization.

The compensation that Israel should demand for the energy alternative from European countries, as well as from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other benefiting countries, is assistance in solving the Gaza refugee problem. Whether it’s financial aid, international public opinion support, or actual absorption.

Assistance should also be provided for the relocation of residents interested in a new life outside the danger zone, away from their toxic education system, in a safe place from missiles, armed conflict, and terrorist organizations. Both for the sake of Gazans who should have the freedom to choose a different life, and for those who seek our destruction and should not continue to threaten us.

Strategic Deployment of Military Camps

In order to control the strip militarily, Israel needs to establish several military camps in the area. Five near the Gaza coast: one near Beit Lahia, the second in the Rimal neighborhood, the third in the Nitzarim axis, the fourth south of the Mawasi area, and the fifth in the west of Rafah. These camps will prevent the infiltration of terrorists and refugees from the sea into the territory of the strip.

Three camps should be located in the eastern part of the strip where the brigades of the Gaza Division will be located, and in the center, the headquarters of the division. One in the Jabalia area, the second east of the Nuseirat refugee camp, and the third in the eastern Khan Yunis. This will correct the distorted situation that existed before the ” Simchat Torah Massacre”, where the concentration of command posts in one geographic area was conquered and neutralized.

Additionally, the army should be tasked with taking control of the Philadelphia Axis, serving as a border beyond Israel’s exclusive control with a border guard unit stationed there. The absolute bifurcation between the two parts of the strip – northern and southern – should be established, and a deterrent unit should be deployed in the Nahal Gaza (Wadi Gaza) axis from east to west. This step will serve as an Israeli declaration that it does not recognize de facto control over the territory of the Gaza Strip as one territorial entity.

To achieve this, Israel should not end the war without demolishing all the empty buildings or weapons that may endanger our soldiers, alongside the destruction of the subterranean threat through explosion. Once all structures in Gaza are dismantled to the foundations and all sewage, water, and electricity infrastructures are destroyed, we will know that Hamas terrorists no longer pose a threat; of course, time will be required for this. As long as the fighting continues, Arabs should be prohibited from leaving the evacuation and humanitarian shelters areas to the areas of armed settlements.

Regarding the civilian status of the Strip, it should be managed under municipal control only. Israel will organize the control of the central municipalities in the vital areas as determined by. It should be understood that from the moment the Hamas movement, which gained absolute civilian support, started a war, it transferred a shared responsibility to its residents because it is clear that the right to choose comes with responsibility.

"The Axis of Evil is doing everything to thwart normalization"
photo: Khamenei.ir

Settlements – Part of the Solution

Given the implications of the recent past – especially the results of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern part of Samaria during the disengagement process –  and the growth of terrorist activities in these areas, Israel must establish its control over the Gaza Strip. It should prevent Palestinian residences near the border between the strip and Israel and prohibit the entry of Gazan residents into these areas.

Moreover, acknowledging the efforts of IDF soldiers, especially reserve units, Israel should encourage the possibility of establishing neighborhoods for reserve soldiers and discharged soldiers in open areas. This includes the communities of Nitzanit, Dugit, and Eli Sinai, which protect Ashkelon and its surroundings. Also, it could expand the municipal territory of the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip, incorporating the open areas bordering them within their jurisdiction. The Gaza envelope communities, some of which neighbor the Gush Katif communities, are located in the mandate’s documents as lands where Jewish settlement should be encouraged, especially in the uncultivated and state-owned lands. It is appropriate to settle Jews on those lands that, for decades, served as a model for agricultural settlement worldwide but were turned into terror camps by Hamas and seized by them.

The IDF at the Erez crossing in the war
photo: Eliran t