Israel threatens the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with a ground invasion to uproot the presence of Hamas.
They have warned approximately one million Palestinian civilians in Gaza city and the northern part of the Strip to evacuate and head south. The Western world, particularly the so-called "Civilized" nations, supports Israel in its anticipated war to retaliate against the bloody attack perpetrated by Hamas inside Israel on October 7th.
The entire world awaits with bated breath to witness the Israeli Rambo's actions on the ground in Gaza after reducing its infrastructure to rubble through indiscriminate airstrikes that fail to distinguish between military and civilian targets, including hospitals and densely populated residential areas, all with the hope of flushing out Hamas leadership into the open or forcing them into the intricate network of tunnels they have constructed beneath Gaza, connecting to Israel in the north and the Egyptian border in the south, known as "the Metro." Of course, Israel plans to utilize the latest American weaponry to destroy the "Metro" tunnels and eliminate all key figures of the movement. I won't delve into the prospects of success for these Israeli military plans, as the United States has previously faltered in executing similar military strategies in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, despite the substantial differences in the scale between those countries and the Gaza Strip. Israel has isolated Gaza from electricity, water, and food supplies in a collective punishment deemed illegal by international humanitarian law, and one that the Western world criticized when Russia was accused of imposing a blockade on Ukraine.
I won't delve into the double standards of Western nations in dealing with the Israeli occupation of Arab territories versus those applied to Russia in Ukraine. The crux of my argument here is to propose an alternative scenario for the impending catastrophe if the Palestinians are pushed southwards toward the Egyptian border through Israeli military actions, leaving Egypt, from a humanitarian standpoint, with no alternative but to resettle them as refugees in the Sinai Peninsula, a situation the Egyptian government has repeatedly declared its refusal to accept. It is no secret that for at least half a century, Israel has demanded that Egypt assume responsibility for the Gaza Strip, while Jordan takes responsibility for the remote islands that Israel will not include in the West Bank, effectively severing any connection between the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip and thereby extinguishing the dream of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.
The current war presents an available opportunity to prevent the overcrowded Gaza from being emptied by the Israeli government, which has warned approximately half of the Gaza population, or nearly one million Palestinians, to evacuate the northern part of the Strip and head south within a 24-hour window. This would push them towards the sparsely populated Sinai border, constituting an Israeli war crime that cannot be silenced. The associated security risks are immeasurable and threaten the security, sovereignty, and stability of Egypt, while exacerbating the economic burdens placed on its society.
My alternative proposal hinges on transforming the current war into a catalyst for resuming peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis based on the mutually agreed-upon principles. This framework enjoys the broadest international support and entails the exchange of Arab-Israeli peace relations in return for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, with minor adjustments agreed upon through the swapping of borderland Palestinian territories in the West Bank, which harbor the highest concentration of Israeli settlements, comprising approximately 20% of the West Bank's land area, excluding Jerusalem, with an equivalent area of Israeli Negev desert land, which can serve as a connection between Gaza and Israel. Multiple proposals and maps have been presented in the context of this land exchange, which must be equitable and agreed upon by both parties.
I believe that the current war in Gaza presents an opportunity to initiate such an exchange. Instead of urging the Palestinians living in Gaza City to move south, those willing to avoid the ravages of war should be invited to head east to a portion of historic Palestine in the Negev Desert, located in the eastern buffer zone of the Gaza Strip, which is less densely populated by Israeli settlements than the West Bank or the northern part of the Strip. Egypt can play its customary role in times of Israeli-Gaza conflicts by receiving aid at the airports and seaports in Al-Arish and transporting it through the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Egyptian-Gaza-Israel border, south of the Negev Desert.
Israel would then inspect these supplies to ensure they are free from any weapons or ammunition, subsequently transferring them to the Palestinians under Israeli blockade in the Negev Desert and in Gaza on both sides of the border separating Gaza from the Negev, which Israel established after its military withdrawal from the Strip in 2005. Of course, Israel must reopen these crossings that it closed after the withdrawal.
All these measures would serve as temporary arrangements to address the humanitarian needs resulting from the war's aftermath on Palestinian civilians. However, they could lay the groundwork for Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations, which Egypt should call for as part of its proposed initiative. As Egypt turned the October War of fifty years ago into a starting point for peace efforts between Egypt and Israel, subsequently followed by other Arab nations, Egypt can similarly transform the current Gaza war into a platform for launching peace negotiations, overseen by international powers, with the participation of all Arab countries interested in achieving peace.
In the face of the Israeli "war government," which was announced to unite the country's political parties and forces, I suggest that Egypt host a meeting between all Palestinian factions to form a unity government for peace and put an end to Palestinian division, which Israel has long exploited to justify its procrastination in negotiations and hindrance of peace agreements. Once Egypt announces this initiative and secures the support of Arab and Israeli parties, the international community, especially the permanent members of the UN Security Council, should be called upon to support it, enabling the United Nations to facilitate and monitor the initiative.
Egypt enjoys amicable relations with all parties directly and indirectly involved in the conflict. Undoubtedly, its strategic geographic location, political weight, and the threat posed by the ongoing war to Egyptian national security and the overall stability of the Middle East represent combined elements of pressure urging Egypt to act swiftly and qualities that qualify it to present this initiative. It should also be noted that regional and international actors, particularly the United States, must fear the consequences of this war's escalation, which could empower extremists and weaken moderates in the region. This conflict's escalation and expansion could draw in other regional and international players, such as Hezbollah, Iran, and even Russia, subsequently involving the United States and other Western nations and exposing tens of thousands of American forces in the region to danger. This serves as an additional incentive to avoid such an escalation.
Of course, I don't need to explain the internal and regional considerations and pressures on Egypt, which make it imperative for Egypt to take action to avert the catastrophic consequences of an impending Israeli invasion of Gaza and the resulting humanitarian calamity for the Palestinian people in the Strip, who enjoy the support and sympathy of the majority of Egyptians, despite their diverse political backgrounds.
*The writer is a retired Egyptian Ambassador and an international relations scholar.
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