“It’s been more than two years, and we are entering the third, displaced and broken like this. Isn’t there any solution for us?” asked Raghda Obeid, a mother of four and refugee in Gaza. Answer: No. Sadly, tragically, no. Over 350 Gazans have died since the “ceasefire.” Lies and delusions, but no solution.
This is not a condemnation of Israel, which still faces a phalanx of deadly foes in Hamas, Hezbollah, and, of course, Iran.
But it is a call to reality for the Palestinians of Gaza. Gazans face many dangers and challenges, but one reigns supreme though it is rarely, if ever, mentioned.
Gazans face an Israeli military willing to level entire buildings to kill one terrorist.
Israel dominates a significant portion of Gaza behind the “Yellow Line” established in the ceasefire and seems disinclined to quit this territory. Golan Heights 2.0?
Gazans face as terrible an ordeal with Hamas. With ruthless efficiency, Hamas regained control over the remaining territory as the ceasefire began, killing the Palestinian opposition.
Hamas promised to disarm as part of the ceasefire, but it can’t. Without arms, Hamas fades to irrelevancy. Hamas could allow Gazans a future. They choose a losing fight with Israel instead.
An impoverished people, Gazans have lost almost everything. Such poverty endangers thousands with starvation, sickness, and freezing to death in the coming winter.
Further, no other nation will accept but a few Gaza refugees. For all the talk of “Arab brotherhood,” the Palestinians are utterly alone, friendless but for the Iranians who use Hamas as pawns.
None of which compares to the danger of the multi-faceted fantasy of the hope of remaining in Gaza.
The lesser fantasy stems from the cost of rebuilding, with initial under-estimates beginning at $70 billion for basic reconstruction. This fantasy is crushed by the realization that nobody should be willing to foot this bill, neither governments nor private developers, knowing Hamas and Israel will someday blow up anything rebuilt.
The insuperable fantasy is time. Even if the fighting stopped, it would take years just to clear enough rubble to start rebuilding.
Meanwhile, where are the 2.1 million remaining Gazans to live? What are they to do? Are they to survive on aid trucked past Israeli checkpoints and snuck past Hamas thieves year-after-year?
Even then, Hamas must first disarm. It won’t. On the contrary, as Hezbollah is now doing in Lebanon, Hamas will rebuild, rearm, and resume the struggle with Israel. This might be avoided if Iran’s survival was so threatened it cut off all aid. But Hamas might not quit even then.
If this all sounds dire and hopeless, well, it is, for Gaza’s Palestinians. Sometimes, you have to face facts. When the White man first came to North America, Native Americans put up a good struggle, but the fact is they were doomed from the outset.
However, Gazans greatest enemy is not Israel or Hamas or even time. It is those world leaders and commentators who bloviate about a two-state solution or who develop fantasy plans about rebuilding Gaza for the Palestinians. Such talk inflicts the greatest cruelty because it suggests reasonable hope where none exists.
Have Gaza’s Palestinians no grounds for hope in Gaza? Perhaps there is one wisp of a chance. They could rise up, drive Hamas out, kill every remaining Hamas leader or fighter they find, and then demonstrate before the world they want to live in peace with Israel, even joining the Trump-orchestrated Abraham Accords.
Sorry to indulge in my own little happy place.
J.D. Foster is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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