US President Donald Trump is pushing for a radical approach to the challenges in Gaza. Rather than tinker away at old solutions that haven’t worked, he is proposing that Gazans be re-settled somewhere else and that Gaza be rebuilt in the long term. This is different than reconstruction in the past, where Hamas and Gaza siphoned off the construction in order to build tunnels.
The Trump plan for Gaza is taking shape. However, it’s clear it will receive pushback in the region. Egypt and Jordan don’t want to take in hundreds of thousands of Gazans. Qatar and Turkey, two US allies, both have backed Hamas and won’t want to see it lose its Gaza real estate. It’s not even clear if Israel will be completely on board with this plan since Israel’s policy over the last decade and a half has come to accept Hamas rule in Gaza.
Even during fifteen months of war, the Israeli government never came up with a plan to remove Hamas from Gaza. The real story behind Trump laying down a radical approach to Gaza can be found in the saying, “Beat the grass to startle the snakes.” This idiom is often said to date from a 6th-century Chinese essay called “Thirty-Six Stratagems.” The concept is that in a conflict, you do something spectacular, such as beating the proverbial grass, and this leads the enemy to reveal their position. (Read More)
