As the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues, political maneuvering in Israel is intensifying, testing the survival skills of the wily but increasingly beleaguered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In an opinion piece by journalist David Ignatius published in the American "Washington Post", he reported that Netanyahu dropped a political bombshell on the Biden administration this month, claiming that the United States was delaying major arms shipments to Israel, but the bombshell was defused this week by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who visited Washington for talks that Israeli and American officials confirmed had resolved the problem.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu has been sharply criticized in op-eds by two former prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert . Barak and other prominent Israelis have said that Netanyahu's invitation to speak before Congress next month should be rescinded because he does not represent the majority of Israelis, and Olmert has indicated that he agrees, the author said.
Olmert strongly criticized Netanyahu and accused him of "arrogance" for failing to anticipate the Hamas attack on October 7. He said frankly : "There is nothing we can gain at this stage that is worth the cost of continuing the war."
Netanyahu's ruling coalition has also been shaken internally in two directions this week, with Israel's Supreme Court ruling that religious Jews should not be exempt from military service, a position supported by some members of his government and opposed by others.
The article's author, David Ignatius, explains that Gallant continued to press ahead with his post-war transitional plans in Gaza, which were unofficially described as " the day after " and which Netanyahu does not support.
He stressed in the context that resolving the dispute over US arms shipments to Israel was of utmost importance, especially since Galant overcame the political rift created by his prime minister.
Netanyahu had claimed in a June 18 video that the United States was deliberately slowing down major arms shipments in addition to the reported delay of 2,000-pound bombs that President Biden fears will harm Palestinian civilians.
Gallant and US officials confirmed this week that large arms shipments of ammunition had been delivered to tank engines and F-35 fighter jets.
After these discussions, according to the same source, a senior administration official spoke to reporters and thanked Galant "for his professional approach to dealing with all issues of the security partnership between Israel and the United States."
The official confirmed "the transfer of ammunition and military systems to Israel, along with 2,000-pound bombs."
24 Administrative Areas.. The Post-War Plan in Gaza
The American writer points out that the less obvious but perhaps more important topic that Galant discussed during his visit was a detailed plan for the post-war period in Gaza.
The writer states in his article that this plan will be implemented even if Hamas continues to reject the ceasefire and the proposal to release the hostages, which the American administration has sought for months to achieve.
In the course of his speech, he explains that the transition process in Gaza that Gallant discussed in Washington will be supervised by a steering committee headed by the United States and Arab partners, which he described as “moderates.”
He said an international force, likely to include troops from Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Morocco, would oversee security while US forces would provide command, control and logistics from outside Gaza, possibly in Egypt, and gradually a Palestinian force would take over local security.
Gallant and American officials agree on the necessity of training this Palestinian security force within the framework of the current security assistance program for the Palestinian Authority headed by Lieutenant General Michael Wenzel, who is stationed in Jerusalem as security coordinator for Israel and the Authority.
The transitional plan in Gaza will be implemented in stages, starting from northern Gaza and expanding southward as the situation permits.
Gallant believes that implementing the plan requires dividing the Gaza Strip into 24 administrative regions.
According to the American journalist, American officials told him that they support the Gallant Plan, but that moderate Arab governments will not support it unless the Palestinian Authority participates directly, giving it what the Arab countries may see as legitimacy.
American officials also warned that moderate Arabs want to implement the Saudi proposal of a political horizon toward an eventual Palestinian state, which Galant says he and most Israelis will not support.
Hamas power
These plans assume that Hamas has degraded enough as a military force to be unable to launch large-scale attacks, something Israeli military leaders believe they have largely accomplished, but a U.S. official confirmed that a “Hamas-like” force is now providing some security for the distribution of humanitarian aid in northern Gaza.
The official said the force is described as a "de facto authority" by humanitarian aid groups.
The war between Israel and Lebanon
In this file, the Israeli defense minister discussed the Biden administration's efforts to avoid war between Israel and Lebanon, as White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk and US special envoy to Lebanon Amos Hochstein reached a truce agreement for Lebanon that officials say can be implemented once the ceasefire in Gaza is lifted.
The Lebanese agreement calls for Hezbollah's "Radwan Force" to withdraw north to a line roughly parallel to the Litani River and for Israel to agree to border adjustments that Hezbollah has demanded for years.
According to David Ignatius, a US official confirmed that “all the pieces are in place to end the war in Gaza and avoid another war in Lebanon. The two wild cards are the leaders of Israel and Hamas, Netanyahu and Yahya Sinwar. The Hamas leader may prefer to die rather than make concessions.”
The writer concluded his article by saying, “Netanyahu sees the growing political pressure to move toward the endgame in Gaza, and his attempt to blame Biden for the significant delay in arms deliveries failed this week as his political opponents mobilize. Netanyahu has always been an agile and shape-shifting politician, but his options for political survival are diminishing.”
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