The US president said in his speech the other day, "When this crisis is over, it's a vision of what will happen next, and in our opinion, it should be a mutual solution within the framework of the two states." It should be recalled that earlier the extraordinary meeting of the Arab League last month ended with a call for serious negotiations towards a solution between the two states.
But is it possible to solve the Gaza war in a two-state format? Or is there an absolute need for the participation of a mediator country?
In his statement to Ednews, Palestinian expert Khalil Al-Asali said that the notions about the future of the war are completely wrong:
"First of all, no one, not Israeli politicians, not Americans, not Palestinians, and not even high rank analysts, can tell you what will happen the day after the war. No one, the Israelis, especially when they start a war, knows how to end it. Of course, the Israelis do not want Hamas to return to Gaza. Another issue is that the Israelis will want to maintain security control in Gaza. As one of the ministers said today, we want Gaza to be like the West Bank, which means that security matters are in the hands of Israel and civil matters are in the hands of Palestine. However, it is not known whether this will happen in Gaza or not."
The expert believes that the dual state format is already a dead issue and those who talk about it do not know what is happening in the area.
"The West Coast is like 'Swiss cheese.' It has a certain presence but there are many gaps(holes) in it. Therefore, leaders must be creative. There must be something to change the face of this region. Israeli politicians in particular want to control the West Bank and continue to control Gaza and resettle settlers. This is indeed a solution that far-right Israelis have been talking about. On the other hand, the Israelis do not want to keep the 2 million Palestinians in the West Bank under their sovereignty. Because this means serving them, providing them with security. Israelis, if you want the truth, want to wake up in the morning and find that Gaza doesn't exist at all. But the reality is different. For all the actors, even the currently paralyzed Arab countries, it will be very difficult to imagine what will happen to Gaza the day the war stops. There are some scenarios where, for example, they will transfer some of the Gazans to the Egyptian territories to keep them there for a while to enroll. "I don't think it can happen now, because Jordan has already declared that what happened in Gaza can happen in the West Bank, which means that the Israelis will expel the Palestinians from the West."
To our question about mediation, Mr. Asali said that it is impossible to show any serious candidate for mediation:
"Nobody takes the decisions of the Arab League seriously. So I don't think that a realist organization like the Arab League can do anything for the Palestinians right now. They are so paralyzed that they call for serious negotiations, but they don't know with whom? On the one hand, you already know why we cannot trust the USA."
Rachel Abraham, the editor and political expert of the Economic World Center operating in Israel, thinks that the main goal at the moment is to destroy Hamas, and the format of the peace settlement is left for later.
"I think it's too early to decide what will happen to Gaza after the war ends. First, Hamas must be overthrown. We cannot allow a terrorist organization like Hamas to remain in power. The first thing we have to do is to overthrow them. What will happen to Gaza after that, I don't think it can be answered right now, that's a matter for later. I can say that the binary system will not work, especially since Gaza has been completely separated from the West Bank for a long time now. But after the war, will this system be resolved within a triple, quadruple or eight system? Time will tell."
Akbar Novruz
