Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published an article in the Wall Street Journal in which he laid out the plan and conditions of the State of Israel for the day after the war. According to him, Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and the incitement in Palestinian society must be stopped. These are the three preconditions for an agreement between Israel and the entity that will control Gaza.
"First," Netanyahu wrote, "Hamas must be destroyed. To achieve this goal, its military capabilities must be dismantled and its political rule over Gaza must be ended. Hamas leaders have vowed to repeat the October 7 massacre over and over again. Therefore, their destruction is the only proportionate response to prevent the repetition of such terrible atrocities. Anything less promises more war and more bloodshed."
"Secondly, Gaza must be demilitarized. Israel must ensure that the territory will not be used as a base to attack it again. Among other things, this will require the establishment of a temporary security zone around Gaza and a monitoring mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt that will meet Israel's security needs and prevent arms smuggling into the territory."
Abu Mazen cannot condemn the atrocities of October 7
Netanyahu referred to the American expectation that the Palestinian Authority would control Gaza and wrote that "the expectation that the Palestinian Authority will demilitarize Gaza is a dream. Today, the PA finances and glorifies terrorism in Judea and Samaria and educates Palestinian children to strive for the destruction of Israel. In the foreseeable future, Israel will have to maintain security responsibility in Gaza."
"Thirdly," Netanyahu continues, "it will be necessary to remove incitement from Gaza. Schools must teach children to value life and not death, and imams must stop preaching the murder of Jews. Palestinian civil society must be changed so that its people support the fight against terrorism instead of financing it."
According to Netanyahu, "This will probably require courageous and moral leadership. The leader of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, cannot even condemn the atrocities on October 7. Some of his ministers deny that the murders and rapes happened or accuse Israel of committing these terrible crimes against its own people. Another minister threatened that a similar attack will be carried out in Judea and Samaria."
