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On 7 October 2023, the despicable creatures masquerading as human beings in the region know as the
Gaza Strip committed a despicable atrocity against the State of Israel, Jewish people around the world, as well as against
all decent human beings on this earth – they attacked the Jewish state and massacred innocent civilians in violation of all
civilized rules of conduct. By no means, was this the first such contemptable act of inhumanity. This coldblooded act,
rightly called a pogrom, was ostensibly led by the terrorist group identified as Hamas - the Islamic Resistance Movement -
a Sunni Islamist political and military organization.
In 1987, after the outbreak of the First Intifada against Israel, Hamas was founded by Palestinian
imam and activist Ahmed Yassin. It emerged out of his Mujama al-Islamiya, which had been established in Gaza and was
associated with the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood - identified as an Islamic terrorist organization.
Hamas opposed the
Israel–PLO Letters of Mutual Recognition as well as
the Oslo Accords. Hamas advocated armed resistance and won the 2006 “Palestinian” legislative election and took control of
the Gaza Strip following a civil war in 2007. Since then, it has run Gaza as a de facto autocratic and one-party
state.
Hamas has historically sought an Islamic “Palestinian” state over the combined territories of
Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip (rejecting the two-state solution). The Hamas' 2017 charter supports a
“Palestinian” state within the 1967 peace agreement borders without recognizing Israel and, instead, retains the
long-term objective of establishing an Islamic state in the former Mandate Palestine. It has pursued a policy of
jihad (armed struggle) against Israel. The attacks against Israel and Jews include suicide bombings against civilian
targets and indiscriminate rocket attacks. These attacks and other atrocities have led many countries and
academics to designate Hamas a terrorist organization.
Israel and Hamas have fought a number of wars in Gaza, including in 2008–09, in 2012, in 2014
and in 2023. In the 2023 war, Hamas launched "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood" and its fighters broke through Israel’s Gaza barrier,
attacked civilian sites in Israel, Israeli military bases, massacred civilians and took civilian and soldier hostages back
to Gaza. The attack has been described as the biggest setback of Israeli military since the 1973 war. In response, Israel
began an aerial bombardment of Gaza and announced its intention to destroy Hamas. The European Union (EU) and the
United States have both called for the elimination of
Hamas.[1]
In Finish What Samson Began[2], I called
for Israel to once-and-for-all destroy Hamas (and any other terrorist organization oppressing decent people in the Gaza
Strip) and free the citizens of Gaza from the brutal oppression imposed upon them. But that would only be the beginning of
what needs to be done. There is a set of subsequent actions that will have to be taken to completely rid Israel, the people
of Gaza and the rest of the civilized world from the brutal evil represented by Hamas and similar terrorist organizations
in the Muslim world.
In 1945, the evil that was Nazi Germany was defeated. The next step was the punishment of the
remaining Nazis and the “denazification” of Germany. This denazification required several years of concerted action and
applied to the entire nation of Germany. The result is today’s Germany – a thriving democracy, a member of NATO, a supporter
of Israel and Israel’s largest-ever defense customer with a deal for a sophisticated missile defense system for $3.5
billion.[3]
"Denazification (German: Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian
society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was
carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Party or SS members from positions of power and influence, by disbanding
or rendering impotent the organizations associated with Nazism, and by trying prominent Nazis for war crimes in the
Nuremberg trials of 1946. The program of denazification was launched after the end of the war and was solidified by the
Potsdam Agreement in August 1945. The term denazification was first coined as a legal term in 1943 by the U.S. Pentagon,
intended to be applied in a narrow sense with reference to the post-war German legal system. However, it later took on a
broader meaning." (Ref. 4)
Once Israel finishes dealing with Hamas, it must immediately proceed with the “dehamasification”
of Gaza. It must ruthlessly root out and eliminate any and all vestiges of Hamas and the other extremist and fundamentalist
Islamic terror groups. No mercy must be shown in accomplishing this task. Mercy is a word these creatures do not recognize
nor understand.
Israel should enlist the aid of the more moderate elements in the Moslem and Arab world to proceed
with the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip while it is proceeding with the “dehamasification” process. This would include
the introduction of liberal curricula in the Gaza schools, the possible aid of Egypt and/or Jordan in administering the
region and developing its economy, and the assistance of friendly nations in providing the financial assistance that will
be required to rehabilitate Gaza.
In 2018, Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor told Gazans in a direct appeal that "Gaza has the
potential to become the Singapore of the Middle East" if economic investments were channeled towards residents' welfare and
the development of the Strip "instead of to terrorism."
Prior to the Oslo Accords, when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, some 90,000 Gazans worked in the
State of Israel, and about 80 factories operated in the Erez and Karni industrial zones. In 1994, following the Oslo
Accords, Israeli forces left Gaza City and other urban areas and relinquished governmental authority to the Palestinians,
with the exception of the settlement blocs and military areas. Liberman asserted that Israel was not the problem in Gaza.
The problem has clearly been the “Hamas leadership, which uses civilians as live ammunition and as human shields.”
Liberman expressed the hope that all of the funds being appropriated by Hamas would be redirected
towards the welfare of the people of Gaza and to the development of the Gaza Strip, instead of to terrorism. If it were,
Liberman said, "Gaza has the potential to become the Singapore of the Middle East." He went on to say
that, "This would be good for the residents of Gaza, it would be good for Israel, and it would be good for the entire
region.[5]
Once Gaza is cleansed of its terror organizations, i.e., Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc., the residents
of the territory can make use of its resources and develop its economy. The area in the Gaza Strip has much in the way of
natural and man-made resources which have yet to be exploited.
One as-yet undeveloped resource for Gaza is its natural oil and gas reserves. “The 1995
Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, known as the Oslo II Accord, gave the Palestinian
Authority (PA) maritime jurisdiction over its waters up to 20 nautical miles from the coast. The PA signed a 25-year
contract for gas exploration with the British Gas Group in 1999, and a large gas field, Gaza Marine, was discovered at 17
to 21 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza the same year.”[6]
The Mediterranean Sea provides an almost inexhaustible resource for the people of Gaza. As
demonstrated by Israel, desalinization of the sea water can provide fresh water for irrigation and Gaza’s people. The
beaches of Gaza could be exploited as tourist attractions, much as is the case with nearby Egypt’s El-Arish or Israel’s
Ashkelon. Let it not be forgotten that the Mediterranean Sea is a source of seafood – another potentially significant and
profitable source of food, work and income.
Gaza agriculture was once a major source of the local economy. Gaza was famous for growing and
exporting flowers, growing crops such as barley, wheat, and cotton and exporting them to the world. Before the takeover
by Hamas, the most famous crops in the Gaza Strip were citrus, strawberries and olives. Freed of the yoke of the radical
Islamicists, Gaza could once again provide profitable work for its plentiful labor force.
The idiots of the world repeatedly clamor for a “two-state-solution”, i.e., Israel and a
“peace-loving” bunch of “moderate Arab terrorists” living side-by-side in kumbaya tranquility! Well, it hasn’t happened
so far and if the more rationale people in the world keep quiet it is never going to happen. The realists of the world
need to get their way! First, the terrorists need to be eliminated. You can take the word “eliminated” to mean whatever
you want. I take it to mean that the world will never, ever hear from them again! Then, work can proceed on realistically
implementing a “two-state-solution”. This “two-state-solution” will take decades of hard work and will
have to start with the “dehamasification” of Gaza. New generations of Palestinian-Arabs in Gaza will need to be educated
to not hate Jews and Israel. New industries and infrastructure will need to be established to provide the jobs and social
institutions needed by its residents. On top of all that, the people of Gaza must learn to govern themselves while
establishing peaceful and profitable relations with its neighbor and benefactor – the State of Israel. All of this will
take considerable patience, money, effort and, perhaps, most important of all – time! Gaza will not become the Singapore
of the Middle East overnight. It took 2,000 years for the Jews to regain their homeland. What are a few decades for the people
of Gaza to establish their own peace-loving nation?
For now, U.S. and Israeli officials looking to the future of the Gaza Strip after dislodging Hamas
have begun discussing possibilities, including potentially installing an interim government backed by the United Nations and
with the involvement of Arab governments. Israeli officials have said repeatedly that they don’t intend to re-occupy Gaza,
but they’ve also said that continued rule by Hamas is unacceptable after the Oct. 7 attack in which the group killed 1,400
Israelis and took 200 people hostage. Establishing an interim government will be incredibly difficult, and getting Arab
governments’ acquiescence could be even more of a challenge. A plan that involved Arab governments would require a major
shift in how Arab states accept risk and work with one another. It will also require a leap of trust by Jerusalem — a
commodity that is in very short supply these days.[7]
“What kind of human beings have the capacity of beheading babies, raping women and parading their
unclad bodies around the city or burning their victims alive? The Jewish world must be cognizant of what it is dealing with
and understand that any mercy shown to these miscreants is . . . the mercy of fools [Emphasis mine]
“Hopefully, Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be influenced by a world that will
soon decry a ‘disproportionate response’ to this horrifying act of savagery and has already started to blame Israel for the
carnage. The handing over of Gaza to the group that calls themselves Palestinians was a huge mistake on the part of
the government of Israel. [Emphasis mine] The Jewish State wanted to show the world that ‘they were willing to
make painful concessions in their quest to attain peace.’ The non-ceasing barrage of missiles, terror tunnels, kidnappings
and mayhem is testament of the folly of this decision. In reality what they got was a terrorist state adjacent to their
country. This situation cannot remain.
“It is time to retaliate in a way that will show Israel’s enemies that Jewish blood is a precious
commodity and woe to anyone who would think otherwise. It is time to act on Israel’s vow of Never Again.
[Emphasis mine]" (Ref. 8)
After the elimination of Hamas, it is quite likely that a buffer zone will be set up to separate
Gaza from Israel. During ceasefire talks with Qatar in late November of 2023, Israel discussed establishing a protective
buffer zone on the Gaza side of the border between Israel and Gaza after the war with Hamas is finished. The information was
shared with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey.
Israel wants this buffer zone to extend completely from the north to the south to prevent any
terrorists from infiltrating or attacking Israel in the future. The news that Israel is planning a buffer zone is consistent
with a plan Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Netanyahu told Blinken that
he planned to establish a buffer zone “deep” into Gaza. Netanyahu also again denied that the Palestinian Authority would
govern Gaza after the war.[9]
One very important question about Gaza that remains unanswered at the present time: In the distant
future, will the "Gaza Strip" and the “West Bank” unite into one viable “Palestinian” national entity that can exist in
peace and prosperity with Israel? Or, will the Gaza Strip go its own way?
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References:
- Hamas, Wikipedia, Accessed 25 October 2023.
- Finish What Samsom Began!, David Burton, Sonofeliyahu.com; Article 598, 26 October 2023.
- em>Israel clinches largest-ever defense deal with Germany for $3.5 billion after securing US approval,
Julia Frankel,
abc NEWS, 17 August 2023.
- Denazification, Wikipedia, Accessed 18 October 2023.
- Liberman: Gaza could be 'Singapore of Middle East' if funds didn't go to terror, Julia Frankel,
124news, 15 August 2018.
- Palestine’s forgotten oil and gas resources, Mahmoud Elkhafif, aljazeera.com,
21 June 2021.
- US and Israel weigh a future for the Gaza Strip without Hamas, The Economic Times,
21 October 2023.
- Israel at War, Shelley Benveniste, The Jewish Press; Pge 41, 20 October 2023.
- Israel tells Arab neighbors it will create Gaza ‘buffer zone’ after the war, Vered Weiss,
World Israel News, 3 December 2023.
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