Greater-Israel Advocates see Gaza Crisis as Opportunity for Expansion, by political science Prof. Jeremy Pressman of the University of Connecticut on Feb. 6, says:
For the past four months some ministers in the Israeli government and their supporters have viewed the October 7 attack on Israel as an opportunity to advance the Greater Israel agenda of settlement expansion and Palestinian dispossession.
Prof. Pressman, who is also director of Middle East Studies at the university, observes:
Successful movements, like the Israeli right, kick into high gear for those unexpected moments when dramatic political and territorial change is suddenly possible.
Pressman says that “from a Greater Israel perspective, there are at least four potential transformational aspects of this Israeli military barrage.”
“First, Israel is making Gaza uninhabitable.
Almost 2 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes. The cultural, educational, food, health care, and road systems – all essential for basic life – have been severely damaged. Perhaps 50 to 60% of structures in Gaza have been damaged and destroyed, including about 65,000 residential units.
“Second, Israel could block or drag out Palestinian return to certain parts of Gaza.
For example, in mid-December, an Israeli media outlet reported the IDF would maintain “a considerable military presence” in northern Gaza even after the intense warfighting ended….. On January 22, a Hamas attack killed tens of Israeli soldiers as they prepared to demolish buildings to clear a future buffer zone.
[According to the New York Times, two Israeli officials have said the goal is “to create a buffer about a half-mile wide along the entire length of Israel’s roughly 36-mile border with Gaza.”]
“Third, Israel could press Palestinians to leave Gaza altogether and resettle elsewhere such as Egypt or in Arab Gulf countries.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for “voluntary emigration.” On X (formerly twitter), National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir endorsed “the migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza.” Some have pointed to a leaked proposal from Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence that would send Palestinians to Egypt’s Sinai.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has publicly distanced himself from the idea but privately indicated support in a Likud meeting: “Our problem is [finding] countries that are willing to absorb Gazans, and we are working on it.”
“Fourth, there are Israelis who are calling for re-establishing Israeli civilian settlements in Gaza.
Ben-Gvir called the return of Jewish settlement in Gaza “an important thing.” A coalition of 11 Israeli organizations met to rally public support for the idea and lobby political leaders. In a mid-November poll, 44% of Israeli respondents supported Israeli settlement renewal in Gaza while 39% opposed.
Professor Pressman says “all these measures are fully consistent with the ultimate Greater Israel objective:
there should only be one state, a Jewish one, on all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
He also says the current Israeli effort is not only in Gaza.
Since October 7, the IDF and Israeli settlers have killed about 370 Palestinians in the West Bank.... Since early October Israeli settlers drove out just over 1000 Palestinians, ending the presence of 16 Arab villages. In East Jerusalem, the pace of the Jerusalem Municipality demolishing Palestinian homes…has moved even faster since October 7.
[According to an Israeli newspaper, 140 homes in Jerusalem were demolished in 2023, a 60% increase over the previous year.]
Pressman explains that “an important element in some Israeli thinking is the continuing desire to re-shape the balance of land and people in support of the maximalist Greater Israel approach.” However, he adds:
Israel’s prime minister has publicly rejected some of these ideas, perhaps particularly in the face of the genocide case before the International Court of Justice.
Pressman says the United States government also has expressed strong opposition, “but Israel can disregard US rhetoric as long as the flow of US arms and provision of diplomatic cover continue.
Were the United States to fully face up to the expansionist aspects of current Israeli policy, it might recognize that harder-edged pressure is the only way to block Israeli expansion.
--------------------------------—
UPDATE: Add this to Israel is making Gaza uninhabitable:
How Israel’s flooding of Gaza’s tunnels will impact freshwater supply 2/3/24: Israel confirmed this week that its troops are pumping seawater into a network of tunnels in Gaza, a method environmentalists say could violate international law and cause dire, long-term consequences in the besieged Palestinian enclave….Pumping of seawater will contaminate underground freshwater and ruin the conditions of life in Gaza, experts say.
UPDATE 2: In a previous diary, I quoted from proceedings at the UN on Nov. 28 when the US explained the administration’s policy for the future of Gaza:
No forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza — not now, not after the war. No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza. www.dailykos.com/...
In that same diary I quoted Secretary of State Blinken at a meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 8 that it was time to consider the conditions for the future of Gaza:
These must include the Palestinian people’s voices and aspirations at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza. It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
And it must include a sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza, and a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own, with equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity, and dignity.
www.state.gov/...