Alwaght- In recent days, the remarks of the US President Donald Trump about forced migration of the Palestinians from Gaza and Washington's readiness to control this besieged enclave have drawn controversy and stirred massive international objections.
This came as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington for talks with the American officials, stirring speculations about content of the discussions and their influence on the ceasefire process in Gaza and tensions control in the region.
To shed light on aspects of Netanyahu's negotiations with Trump and impacts on the course of developments, Alwaght talked to Asghar Zaree, an Iranian expert of Arab and West Asia affairs.
The crisis of prisoner swap for Netanyahu
Commenting on the motivations of Netanyahu for the US visit, Mr Zaree first mentioned the challenges surrounding the implementation of the second stage of the agreement with Israel and Hamas, adding that the agreement signed between the two is actually a three-stage deal, with each stage being 42-days long. In the first stage, a number of Israeli prisoners were to be released in return for release of a large number of Palestinians. In the very first days, we witnessed scenes presented by Hamas in the media that were considered a sign of strength and power, a victory and a proud epic for the resistance. The picture that was created with the presence of the media and its reflection in the public opinion of the world and the international media, especially among the citizens of Israel, was that the occupiers fought for 470 days but did not achieved any of the goals set in the war and were forced to fully accept Hamas's conditions, which were formulated in 18 articles. This issue brought strong opposition and protests, especially among the members of the terrorist Netanyahu cabinet, and even led to the resignation of a number of ministers and some of the regime's military intelligence, security and defense officials, and there were massive protests against the nature of the draft agreement. When the agreement was signed, the public acknowledged that Netanyahu was completely humiliated under the deal and achieved nothing and completely accepted defeat.
So, the parade and public maneuvers that were conducted by Hamas forces were regarded a new humiliation and problem to the Israeli regime. In the last days of the prisoner swap, Israel and Netanyahu himself announced that continuation of the deal and its implementation are tied to Netanyahu’s visit to Washington. This visit took place and the implementation of the deal was suspended. But the negotiations that took place between Netanyahu and Trump in Washington is a new and unprecedented development and should be lengthily discussed.
Trump uninterested to pay costs of continuation of war
Commenting on the aims of Trump's remarks on Gaza and his view to the issue and his unwillingness to spend more on war, Mr Zaree maintained that so far, the costs of the war have been borne by the White House and its European allies, especially Germany. In fact, after the US, Germany was the second country delivering the largest amount of weapons to this regime, and this is due to the humiliating agreement that was imposed on Berlin at the end of World War II, and the Germans agreed to pay a significant portion of the military costs of the Israeli regime, especially in the field of modernization, reconstruction, and equipping the navy, which is still being paid by the Germans today, more than 77 years after the end of World War II. Trump himself spoke in his election speeches about the need to resolve several cases during his presidency. The first is the Ukraine case. The second is the Taiwan case, the third is the NATO and Europe case, and finally the Middle East case, or the issue of the occupied territories and the Palestinian people. Trump announced that he was not willing to pay any more for Netanyahu's warmongering or bear the heavy financial burdens that have been imposed on Washington so far, and that this war must be stopped. And we saw that Netanyahu acted in such a way that before Trump's inauguration, this ceasefire was signed and the war stopped. But in return, Trump had also made promises to Netanyahu that we see being put forward today, and one of these promises is the shameful and immoral plan and proposal to displace the Palestinian people from Gaza Strip, which is contrary to all rights and laws related to the freedom and the independence and territorial integrity of nations.
Trump's plan will definitely fail
According to the political expert, forcing Palestinians out of Gaza, destruction of Hamas, and release of prisoners have been the key aims of war over the past 470 days. Though none of them were realized, Trump promises the Israeli PM that he will advance this coercive and shameless plan with company of some Arab countries like Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar.
He further held that fortunately, after the announcement of this plan and Netanyahu's happiness with this proposal, even in the US itself, many statesmen, senators, congressmen and senior officials, and among the US allies, especially many European governments, as its traditional and permanent allies, such as France, Australia and many other countries, opposed the plan. This opposition is being raised seriously today, as they define this action of Trump as ethnic cleansing and against the basic principles of the freedom and rights of nations, and it will certainly not be implemented with this widespread opposition from the international community. Also, the Palestinians, who refused to leave their homeland for 470 days under any circumstances, now at the peak of their power and victory, will certainly not give in to this dangerous and shameless plan and will never be willing to leave their land. Unfortunately, the Israeli regime is trying to double the pressure by violating the ceasefire in southern Lebanon in the Gaza Strip and expanding the crisis, bombing and genocide to the West Bank in order to impose Trump's plan on the Palestinians. Trump is trying to turn the beautiful and fertile beaches of the Gaza Strip along the Mediterranean Sea into a tourist resort. This is definitely a dream that will not come true, and the international community and the Palestinian people will definitely not allow such an inhuman move.
Internal crises will not allow Netanyahu to continue war
About the possibility of resumption of war, Mr Zaree said since 1948, Israel had never faced such scandal and bankruptcy in terms of politics, economy, security, and intelligence. Today, the identityless Israeli citizens in the occupied Palestinian territories have no sense of belonging to the occupied territories after 76 years and they are seeking to leave as soon as possible and return home in Europe and other parts of the country, because the security, economy, and welfare they were promised were not realized and conditions deteriorate day by day.
Therefore, given the economic situation and the chaos that prevails in the occupied territories today and the serious protests and opposition that exist even within the governing body of the Israeli regime, it is unlikely that the regime will have the capacity and strength necessary to enter another long-term all-out war. And certainly, with the Hamas recovery today, and with the fact that Israelis themselves have admitted that Hamas has succeeded in recruiting more motivated and trained forces than before, the regime's entry into a new war could certainly impose heavier costs on Tel Aviv and its allies. The Americans themselves or even Trump will are not ready to fund new war in the region. So he will choose diplomacy and unfortunately use some compromising Arab leaders to impose his conditions on Hamas and resistance forces and the Palestinian people in return for Gaza reconstruction. But the resistance will certainly not yield to these conditions and the pro-compromise Arab camp will not succeed to force the Palestinian resistance into a compromise.
