War Cabinet member Benny Gantz believes that the Palestinian Authority is not the body capable of managing life in the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future, Israel Hayom has learned. Although Gantz refrained from saying this explicitly, partly in order to avoid dealing with the US administration, in his view, the scenario of returning the PA to the Gaza Strip is not on the agenda at this stage. The comments come ahead of a joint meeting of the War Cabinet with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday. Those close to Gantz confirmed this.
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So far, the public statements by the head of the state camp on the issue of the entity that will rule Gaza after an iron sword war have been very cautious. At a media briefing two weeks ago, he spoke of "old concepts and arguments" that are bigger than "future realities." By "old concepts" he meant the Palestinian Authority in its present form.
According to him, "The future reality is greater than the concepts that are being talked about today. We cannot return with old concepts and arguments to a necessary future reality. We are not prepared to see an enemy in the Gaza Strip or anywhere else. We insist on maintaining our security superiority and do not want to conduct what is happening in the Gaza Strip civilianly. Therefore, together with the countries of the region and the United States, we will think and develop a mechanism that suits our security needs on the one hand and civilian management on the other, in order to create stability in this entire region. After stability is achieved, and security is maintained, it will be possible to talk about future models. Anyone who goes to unspoken historical concepts is mistaken about reality and his responsibility." It should be noted that for the past five years, Gantz has not spoken in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian state in the current era.
The issue of the "day after" in the Gaza Strip is expected to be discussed today at a meeting of the War Cabinet, with Jake Sullivan, who will arrive in Israel today. Given Gantz's opposition to returning the PA to Gaza, Sullivan is likely to hear a unified Israeli position during the discussion. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also updated his position yesterday and announced that he ruled out returning the PA to the Gaza Strip at the current time.
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