Netanyahu’s war goal is not the hostages’ return. It’s the occupation of Gaza

Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, March 2024

Aluf Benn writes in Haaretz on 21 August 2024:

In his announcement Tuesday about torpedoing the negotiations for a cease-fire deal with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about “our defense and strategic assets” – control of the Philadelphi and Netzarim routes – which Israel would lose if it were to agree to the deal currently on the table.

The public discourse in Israel is focused on the hostages and their fate, but Netanyahu considers them to be a media nuisance, a battering ram by his political opponents, and a distraction from the goal: A prolonged occupation of the Gaza Strip, or – as he has repeatedly declared since the outbreak of the war – “Israeli security control.”

Control of the Philadephi route and the “security corridor” along the border allows Israel to surround Gaza’s land borders and isolate it from Egypt. Control of the Netzarim road route in practice divides northern Gaza, where few Palestinian remain with destroyed homes and infrastructures, from the southern part of the coastal enclave, overflowing with refugees from the entire Strip.

In practice, a long-term arrangement for “the day after” is being drawn up. Israel will control the northern Gaza Strip and drive out the 300,000 Palestinian still there. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, the war’s ideologue, proposes starving them to death, or exiling them, as a lever with which to defeat Hamas. The Israeli right envisions a Jewish settlement of the area, with vast real estate potential of convenient topography, a sea view, and proximity to central Israel.

The 57-year experience of the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem indicates that this is a long process that requires a lot of patience and diplomatic maneuvering capability. No large Jewish city will be built in Gaza tomorrow, but progress will be made acre by acre, mobile home by mobile home, outpost by outpost – just like in Hebron, Elon Moreh, and Gilad Farm.

The southern Gaza Strip will be left for Hamas, which will have to care for the destitute residents under Israeli siege, even after the international community loses interest in the story and moves on to other crises. Netanyahu believes with certainty that, after the U.S. elections, the influence of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on American politics will wane, even if Vice President Kamala Harris wins.

Naturally, if Donald Trump upsets the bowl and returns to the White House, Netanyahu expects a free hand from him in Gaza. In both scenarios, America, with its aircraft carriers, is supposed to deter Iran from a general escalation, or become itself involved in a war to save Israel.

Do not get confused: occupation is the goal Netanyahu is fighting for, even at the price of the remaining hostages dying, and at the risk of a regional war. The scaffolding holding up his regime, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will stand in place so long as he seeks by word and deed a permanent occupation and creeping annexation of Gaza.

At this week’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu reiterated his 1996 slogan against the Oslo Accords: “Give and take, not give and give.” In simpler terms: Occupied territory will not be returned, even under international pressure and even now, faced with the hostages’ pleas. That is the goal of his war.

This article is reproduced in its entirety