“If the world wants security and stability in the region, it must end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and recognise the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted as saying on Friday by the Palestinian state news agency Wafa.
Netanyahu’s plan is his first official proposal for what comes after the war in Gaza – in which Israel has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians.
According to the document, presented to members of Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday, Israel would maintain security and military control over all land west of Jordan, including the occupied West Bank and Gaza – territories where the Palestinians want to create their independent state.
In the long-term goals listed, Netanayhu also rejected the “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state. He said a settlement with the Palestinians will only be achieved through direct negotiations between the two sides – but it did not name who the Palestinian party would be.
In response, Abu Rudeineh rejected any effort to separate governance in Gaza from the West Bank.
“Gaza will only be part of the independent Palestinian state … Any plans to the contrary are destined to fail,” he said, adding, “Israel will not succeed in attempts to alter the geographic and demographic reality in the Gaza Strip.”
“Netanyahu’s proposed plans aim to perpetuate Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Abu Rudeineh continued.
The White House also added its unease with the plan, with US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby sauind that Washington had been “consistently clear with our Israeli counterparts” about what was needed in post-war Gaza.
“The Palestinian people should have a voice and a vote… through a revitalised Palestinian Authority,” Kirby stated.
“We don’t believe in a reduction of the size of Gaza… we don’t want to see any forcible displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza and, of course, we don’t want to see Gaza dominated or ruled by Hamas.”
The war in Gaza has revived international calls – including from Israel’s main backer, the United States – for the so-called two-state solution as the ultimate goal for resolving the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict. However, many senior Israeli politicians oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.
While on Gaza, Netanyahu’s plan emphasised that the war would continue until Israel had achieved all of its announced goals: the dismantlement of military capabilities and infrastructure operated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad; the return of all captives taken on October 7; and the removal of all security threats originating from Gaza.
The enclave will then be run by “local officials” who are not tied to “countries or entities that support terrorism”.
It is also unclear whether representatives of the Palestinian Authority (PA) will be involved in controlling Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister’s plan also outlined demilitarisation and deradicalisation as goals to be achieved in the medium term in Gaza. It does not elaborate on when that intermediary stage would begin or how long it would last, but says that the “the Israeli army will maintain indefinitely the freedom to intervene in Gaza to prevent the resurgence of terror activity”.
It also proposes that Israel have a presence on the Gaza-Egypt border in the south of the enclave and says that Israel should cooperate with Egypt and the US in that area to prevent smuggling attempts, including at the Rafah crossing.
Lastly, Netanyahu’s plan also says that the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, would be shut.
Israel has long tried to eliminate the UN agency, which enshrines the right of Palestinian refugees to return home. Israel has recently made claims that UNRWA has links to Hamas, a claim that the body has fiercely denied, and that US intelligence assessments have cast doubt on, according to reports.
In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry has also rejected “what the Israeli media referred to as Netanyahu’s principles for the post war Gaza”.
The statement deemed the principles “an official acknowledgment of reoccupying the Gaza Strip and imposing Israeli control over it”.
The statement called Netanyahu’s remarks a “plan to prolong the genocide war against the Palestinian people, and an attempt to gain more time to implement the displacement plan.”
It also described them as “an overt maneuver obstructing the US and international efforts aimed at cease-fire and prisoners exchange agreements, resolving the conflict and establishing a Palestinian state.”
