There has been a lot of talk about “Gaza, the day after”. Most of it is irrelevant because it’s based on someone’s idealized vision, and is not based on anything real. This, sadly, includes the Israeli government version, or perhaps I should call it the Netanyahu version since it is mostly his ‘dream’. The ideas he has are notable for not being accompanied by any concrete plan. There are, at present, no viable alternatives to Hamas in Gaza. And the reason is because no one is ready to build one.
Mao in China wrote that “political power grows from the barrel of a gun”. Hamas has the gun, and there isn’t anyone protecting the Gazan Palestinians from it. The IDF has asked for guidance on this and Netanyahu has given them nothing but the same platitudes. The IDF had experience in civil administration and coordination from the years before the formation of the Palestinian Authority. Today there is no IDF civil administration in Gaza because Netanyahu doesn’t want to look like an “occupying power”. And neither does anyone else! The default is a vacuum into which Hamas (or affiliated gangs) have moved. They control the end distribution of aid. And they get rich while doing so. Even America protects this status quo by preventing Israel from doing anything about it.
A realistic solution to this short term problem (and possibly some long term ones as well) is the creation of an alternative. A military government (however politically incorrect that may sound) is actually desperately needed. Arab society in Gaza is not ready for a western style democratic approach. It has not worked in the Palestinian Authority. The people need to be taught about alternatives. Post war Germany and Japan took more than a generation to learn this. Hand in hand with civil administration a new educational system is needed (and it may be very hard to do in Gaza, as in the rest of the Arab world).
Kurdish volunteer Dr. Baxtiyar Baram thinks few Gazans would support Hamas if they had a choice. But “They have eyes everywhere,” he said. “Every bakery, coffee shop, [and] sunflower seller is associated with them.” This is how Hamas continues to rule.
Wetherhorn 