Wanted: Leadership Courage

If the political discourse were focused on what is important, the public debate this week would have been around the issue of the future of Gaza. For the first time since the start of the war, a concrete plan was published on behalf of the "Peace Council," supported by the USA and other countries, to replace Hamas rule and rehabilitate the Strip in a way that is supposed to ensure security for Israel and hope for a normal life for the Gazans.

Obviously, and as usual in the Middle East, the involved parties have different perceptions of the plan, and it is impossible to say definitively what is the right thing to do. However, a public debate must arise, and we must hear the opinion of the politicians running for Prime Minister on this issue. Otherwise, we risk missing an opportunity to realize what is the very victory in Gaza: replacing Hamas rule, clearing the Strip of dangerous weapons, and starting a new era in Gaza, while the IDF is in any case deployed around the border.

At the foundation of the "Peace Council" plan is a simple principle: Hamas will disarm and deposit its weapons under the guard of a technocratic government, which will begin working to rehabilitate the Strip in exchange for a gradual withdrawal of the IDF. The final result should be a Palestinian government, without Hamas, that opposes terror and rules over Gaza while it is demilitarized under international supervision. If we had been told at the beginning of the war that it would end this way, it would have sounded almost like fantasy.

However, things are not simple, and here a leadership decision is required, which, as mentioned, is not heard from any of the candidates who prefer to dodge the subject. The first issue is principled: does Israel even want to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, even if we are guaranteed an independent Palestinian government there that will not endanger us and is backed by international forces? The fact that Benjamin Netanyahu does not present what is happening around the "Peace Council" as an achievement indicates that the current government prefers the continuation of the existing situation, in which Israel holds 52 percent of the Strip and its residents remain without rehabilitation and a future, over a political solution.

The second issue is whether Israel will be willing to withdraw in parallel to the disarmament process, or even before the completion of Hamas's disarmament, in order to set the process in motion? Or is it better to demand first of all the complete disarmament of Hamas's weapons, even though the organization is already collapsed anyway and does not hold rockets but mainly light weapons? It is self-evident that it is better that they disarm first, but experience, and the Middle Eastern reality, prove that things are more complex. It is also difficult for the USA to defeat Iran. In Lebanon, too, we demanded first of all the disarmament of Hezbollah when their president offered Israel peace, and in the end, we gave up (but we also lost the momentum for a peace agreement).

Moreover, to a large extent, it will be easier to disarm Hamas and reduce its influence on the Gazans during a process of gradual withdrawal and rehabilitation of the Strip, as this way it will also be clear to the Gazans that Hamas is the factor hindering rehabilitation and support for it will deteriorate even further. And no less important: there is no such thing as one hundred percent security, and therefore one should not be alarmed even if Hamas keeps a few weapons in its hands. We will achieve true security only when there is a political arrangement in Gaza backed by international involvement, while the IDF will in any case remain deployed outside the border of the Strip.

Israel needs leadership courage that will also be expressed in a willingness for a gradual withdrawal even before full disarmament in order to set the process in motion. This is also an opportunity to rehabilitate our international status a little and be portrayed in the world as those who seek and offer solutions, and not just wars.