One gesture that Defense Minister Bnei Gantz announced after his meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Rosh HaAyin is good at shedding light on the significance of the "political summit" and the nature of the confidence-building measures.
Hundreds of BMC permits (issuance of unique documentation) that will be given to senior Palestinian businessmen will allow them to enter Israeli territory and fly from Ben Gurion Airport more easily. Such permits already exist in the thousands.
Naturally, this gesture, like the other measures, will not affect security tensions.
Those same businessmen are not involved in terrorist activities, otherwise they would not have received the coveted permit.
It is not for nothing that Mahmoud al-Hashab, Abbas' religious adviser, explained in an interview with Al-Arabiya that the PA did not pay any price at the meeting in exchange for benefits and that "the campaign is open."
I met tonight with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. We discussed the security and civil issues on the agenda. I informed him that I intend to continue to promote confidence-building measures in the economic and civilian field, as agreed in our previous meeting. Terrorism and violence.
Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) December 28, 2021
It seems that at the top of the Israeli leadership, there are those who suffer from orientalist illusions, according to which what the Palestinians lack is "respect."
As if what the masses would like to read: "We are the people of Muhammad Daif" - that is, the followers of the head of the military wing in Hamas - is the refreshments that will be served to hate their souls Abu Mazen in the courtyard of the Ganz family.
Even before the meeting, the security forces of the Palestinian Authority carried out an extensive arrest operation against Hamas members in Judea and Samaria. It is highly doubtful whether a package of economic choppers will satisfy them.
In fact, the Palestinian Health Minister's announcement yesterday shed a ridiculous light on these gestures.
The Minister announced that Germany and Italy had transferred to the Palestinian Authority some 450,000 doses of Moderna vaccine from a World Health Organization fund.
Rome donated about 150,000 of the rations to the Gaza Strip, where only the first omicron patient was discovered four days ago.
The fact that a similar agreement with Israel was forced to be revoked last June after harsh criticism of the PA indicates that such measures may actually further undermine the PA's legitimacy.
The current wave of terrorism is to a large extent also an uprising against the PA and the security coordination policy of Abu Mazen, who was perceived as a collaborator.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Photo: Reuters
Accordingly, Hamas has already penned the meeting as a source of much loot, describing it as "stabbing the back of the Intifada" and an event that would encourage elements in the region to normalize with Israel.
One Hamas spokesman mocked Fatah for describing the incident as a meeting of heroes: "What heroism is there in Ganz, who was chief of staff in 2014 and minister of war in 2021? Ganz is a war criminal and his place in the international court."
Smell the end
In truth, gestures are Israel's little problem.
Statements by senior Palestinian officials in recent times show that some are smelling the end of Abu Mazen's battle.
One of them is Mahmoud al-Alul, who began riding on the back of the tiger of riots in Judea and Samaria.
Just last week, Abbas' deputy, who according to the protocol is supposed to inherit it in due course, arrived in the village of Burka after the clashes there.
Al-Alul, 71, a young horse compared to the 86-year-old chief, said Israel had no choice but to continue the Palestinians' "resistance to the occupation and to the settlers."
Also on Thursday, the 57th anniversary of the establishment of Fatah, al-'Alul stressed his support for what he calls "popular resistance."
Muhammad Dahlan, Photo: IP
Another person staring at Abu Mazen's chair is Muhammad Dahlan, his exiled rival.
The leader of the Fatah reform movement, who tried to run a separate list in the canceled parliamentary elections, recently expressed support for a one-state solution, emphasizing the PA's need to "return to the struggle." Hamas positions, and testify to its political power.
It seems that Israel is trying to obscure the reality in which Hamas is the dominant factor today among the Palestinians, and not Abu Mazen.
Just this week, the Islamist terrorist organization conducted a series of military exercises in cooperation with Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.
An organization that says out loud that it intends to exterminate the State of Israel and is intensifying round after round.
The Iranians are not giving up grip on the region
Perhaps there could have been some logic in the policy of carrots and sticks that Gantz is trying to lead, had it not been for the fact that Hamas also extorted concessions to the Gaza Strip, while burning Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.
For example, the Qatari envoy recently announced funding of $ 60 million for the construction of a gas pipeline to the only power plant in the Strip.
In the coming years, Israel will have to provide an appropriate answer to the question of the Gaza Strip.
As early as 2008, in Operation Cast Lead, it was necessary to overthrow the Hamas regime.
The political leadership can go on to argue that it is better to remain calm in the Gaza Strip in light of the Iranian threat in the northern sector, but despite optimistic reports by Saudi media, the Iranians do not appear to be giving up their grip on Syrian territory and trying to provide Hezbollah with advanced and equal-time weapons. The leadership will have to stand up to the public and explain to him why it is necessary to break the policy of rounds of fighting in Gaza.
There will be those who will argue that the current situation in the south is the least bad.
In the end, Hamas is unable to fulfill its obligations under the agreement.
Not only because it is an Islamist and extremist organization, but also because it is not the only terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.
Who guarantees that the Resistance Committees, the Popular Front and Islamic Jihad will be bound by such an agreement?
On the other hand, a military operation to overthrow the Hamas regime in Gaza could lead to many casualties among our forces.
The problem is that in the long run, Israel also suffers cumulative losses and economic damage, and also reaches understandings with Hamas that are repeatedly violated.
Meanwhile, the terrorist organization is intensifying in every round of fighting: not only militarily, but mostly politically.
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