Pipedream: Israeli Settlements Not Likely in Gaza!

Top leaders from Israel’s Likud Party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are set to hold a conference next week aimed at promoting the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

But Israel has to beat Hamas first: It has not yet eradicated the Islamist organization nor indeed any of the Palestinian resistance groups not only in the whole of the Gaza Strip but in north Gaza where they are involved in a genocidal campaign against Palestinians civilians deemed to over 400,000.

Despite Netanyahu’s previous dismissals of returning to Gaza settlements, key ministers, lawmakers, and prominent activists from the right-wing party are backing the initiative which says that they are deluded by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about their success in Gaza.

The event, scheduled for next Monday near the Gaza border, carries the slogan of the Likud Party along with the “Gaza is Ours, Forever” slogan and is centered on preparing for settlement efforts in the territory under the title of “Preparing to Resettle Gaza,” which Israel evacuated in 2005.

Right-wing Israelis need to get there first and establish a foothold in north Gaza however. Despite their bravado, there are still around 5000 Hamas fighters in Gaza and are continually being revitalized. Despite their encirclement of the Jabalia camp, the third time in a year, they have not been able to establish control with Israeli soldiers being killed on a daily basis with their tanks being blown up.

Among the key organizers is extremist Social Equality Minister May Golan, along with numerous Likud lawmakers and activists who hope Israel willl be able to establish control in the area. What they don’t realize however is that Israel has long moved its army divisions – four of them. – to the north to face Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border and have only one division left in Gaza.

The Joe Biden White House has consistently opposed the idea of returning Israeli settlements to Gaza, a stance reiterated throughout the ongoing war, particularly after Israel dismantled its Gaza settlements nearly two decades ago.

According to the Israeli news site Walla, such initiatives could complicate Israel’s defense in legal cases at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, given that international law deems settlements in occupied territories illegal.

South Africa has already filed a case against Israel at the ICJ in December 2023, accusing the country of violating the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. The court held hearings in January 2024 regarding protective measures for Gaza.

The Likud conference has also drawn support from other right-wing factions in the coalition government, including the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the Religious Zionism party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Both parties have advocated for settlement expansion in Gaza, according to the report.

The plan has faced criticism from opposition figures, including former Defense Minister Gadi Eisenkot of the opposition National Unity party. Eisenkot, whose son was killed in the war in Gaza, expressed his opposition, stating: “Our sons and daughters did not sacrifice their lives for this.”

He added that the push for Gaza settlements undermines the broad national consensus over what he called a “just war.”

The conference is “totally against the goals of the war and the statements of the prime minister.”

Israel has launched a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack last year, killing more than 42,400 people, mostly women and children, and injuring over 99,000 others.

The conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, which have killed more than 1,500 people and injured over 4,500 others since Sept. 23.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground incursion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 according to Anadolu.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Fires Continue to Rage in Israel

Israeli newspaper Maariv reported, Friday, that fires swept the country resumed in fully force at the western suburbs of Jerusalem.

“Hours after the massive fire in the Latrun area (between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) was brought under control, the fire resumed in the area today.”

Maariv added that Israeli firefighting crews rushed to the scene in a bid to put out the burning flames.

But, the Israeli Fire Authority said in a post on the X platform that: “There are no dramatic events currently in the fire zones in Jerusalem.”

It added: “Several points of smoke rising are being monitored, and firefighting forces and aircraft continue to work to bring the fires under control.”

On Thursday evening, Israel announced that it had brought under control the fires that swept through the area between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, about 30 hours after they broke out and consumed approximately 20,000 dunams.

Hebrew media outlets, including the official broadcasting authority, reported that the fires were likely caused by “the negligence of hikers,” rather than by arson.

Contrary to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusation that individuals started them, Channel 12 reported that “the central fires in the Jerusalem Hills were not set deliberately and are believed to be the result of negligence.”

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fires in the same area where similar, less intense blazes occurred last week.

The Times of Israel news website quoted President Isaac Herzog as saying, Thursday: “This fire is part of the climate crisis that must not be ignored. It requires us to prepare for serious and significant challenges and to make decisions, including appropriate legislation.”

The fires between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the largest in years, have forced the evacuation of 10 towns and settlements and have spread due to high temperatures and strong winds in the forested area as reported in Anadolu.

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Fires Rage in Israel

Fires are raging in Israel. Flames have started in the West Jerusalem hills and are feared to be creeping into northern and mass Israel with around 119 fire crews, 10 firefighting planes, and a helicopter deployed to attempt to extinguish the blaze according to The Jerusalem Post.

Israel has asked for international help especially from countries like Italy, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus and Bulgaria to attempt to put down the raging fires that are spreading because of high winds. Later reports, and with the inability to contain the fires, Israel called for more help from England, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Argentina, Spain, North Macedonia, and Azerbaijan.

The wild fires that started, Wednesday, are trending on the social media with images and videos of what are seen as apocalyptic scenes never seen before in Israel. The blazes, starting from the hills of western Jerusalem have spread to the areas of Tel Aviv in the north with up to eight Israeli municipalities affected with one blogger simply saying “Israel is burning.”

Reports show that people on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway abandoning their cars and running across the wilderness, anywhere, away from the raging fires consuming forests and natural habitats. Reports also suggest that 10,000 Israeli have been evacuated by over-worked Israeli firefighters who fear the battle will be long.

The highway as well as trains between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have since been closed because of the consuming danger.

As soon as they started, Israeli government officials quickly declared a national state of emergency as raging fires spread to settlements and military bases near Jerusalem with soldiers caught in the blazes with reports that blazes raged in 29 locations such as Nataf, Eshtaol, Ramat Raziel, Giv’at Ye’arim, and Kisalon.

The fires from Jerusalem have also moved south and west due to the raging winds and weather conditions with the Israeli army being deployed to assist firefighting teams as the fires latched on to cars and other vehicles. New blazes have been reported to as far away as in Ashkelon, Ashdod and its port and bordering to the so-called Gaza envelope the territory that houses Jewish settlements and military basis.

The speed winds in Israel are expected to increase dramatically in the coming hours and days with Israeli hospitals recording 12 injuries so far due to smoke inhalation and burns. For the first time in 77 years, Israeli local councils have canceled so-called Independence Day celebrations that is when Israel was created in 1948 on Palestinians lands.

Nobody really knows how the fires have started while Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir rushed to accuse local Palestinians of arson but this is hearsay.

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