Israel’s policy, war goals leading only ‘to one direction – occupation’
Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, has warned Israel’s war on Gaza might go on for a very long time, even for many years.
“At least until the next [Israeli[ elections that are due in October of next year – Netanyahu is biding his time,” he told Al Jazeera, citing the Israeli prime minister’s domestic legal troubles. (The Israeli prime minister is also wanted by the International Court of Justice for alleged war crimes in Gaza.)
“Because of his corruption trial, he formed the most extreme nationalist-religious Messianic government in Israel’s history; he attacked the foundation of Israel’s democracy,” said Mekelberg.
He added that when the war started, some of the “most extreme” elements of the government saw this as an opportunity to annex Gaza, build settlements and expel Palestinians, while for Netanyahu himself it was a chance to derail his corruption trial “almost indefinitely, until something happens and maybe they will drop the charges or they stop the trial altogether”.
Commenting on the “unattainable” objectives set by Netanyahu, including “eliminating” Hamas, Mekelberg pointed out that Israel would not accept the Palestinian Authority to also run the Gaza Strip.
“So, who is going to govern? Meaning, at the end of the day, it is only leading to one direction – to occupation. “And occupation means continuous guerrilla warfare and in this sense it could last another five, 10, 20 years – who knows.”
World ‘very slow to react’
We have some more lines from our interview with Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House.
Asked if there’s ever going to be a tipping point that compels the international community to step in and stop Israel’s actions in Gaza, he said the world has been “very slow to react”.
Mekelberg acknowledged that there has been “some movement” lately from the EU, but “it’s very slow, it’s very incremental and is not going to make an immediate difference”.
On the contrary, he noted, what could make “a huge difference” is if the US – Israel’s strongest ally – “changes its attitude” and if Trump says “enough is enough”.
Alternatively, Mekelberg said what could make a difference is if Israelis continue to stage large-scale protests or “even decide to go on a general strike and start to organically resist”.
He added: “Not only because people from the outside said this [seizing Gaza City] plan is not good for Israel – it’s the commander of the [Israeli military] saying this is a bad plan for Israel, so what needs to happen next also is for many hundreds of thousands to take to the streets.”
