Weekly Commentary: We Can't Afford a Gazan "Day After" That is Oslo on
Steroids
Dr. Aaron Lerner, 15 May 2024

The day after we finish fighting the organized Hamas battalions, there will
be a significant number of active Hamas fighters embedded in the civilian
population, along with members of other terror groups.

They will be heavily armed and able to exploit what remains of a network of
terror tunnels larger than the London Underground.

Unless our operation in the Gaza Strip includes a major civil works project
in the Philadelphi Corridor to block smuggling from the Egyptian Sinai,
these terror forces will quickly be equipped with even better weapons than
they have today.

When the reckless so-called "calculated risk" known as Oslo was launched, we
injected a limited number of armed terrorists, aka "peace partners," into an
area which we had under our complete and effective security control.

The day after in Gaza there will be a limitless number of terrorists in an
area which we barely have under our control.

Despite this reality, Defense Minister Gallant proposed today that a
Palestinian entity should instantly "take control of Gaza, accompanied by
international actors."

Gallant insists that it is reasonable to assume that this Palestinian entity
backed by international forces on the ground would provide Israel "full
freedom of operation in the Gaza Strip."

This is Oslo on steroids.

We can't afford a Gazan "day after" that's Oslo on steroids.

I appreciate that until October 7th it was de rigueur for the Israeli
defense establishment to make unrealistic best-case scenario assessments
which jibed with a mind-numbing combination of ideological agendas and a
thirst for easy solutions.

But we are after October 7th, and there are no excuses for such an approach
today.

For the foreseeable future, The Coordination of Government Activities in the
Territories (COGAT) is going to have to run the show in the Gaza Strip.

It is going to cost us dearly, but the alternative will ultimately cost us
much more.

Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly slammed the "Palestinian entity" running
Gaza idea.

So let's get moving with COGAT.

President Biden wants the Rafah Crossing to reopen.

We also want the Rafah Crossing to reopen.

Let's finesse the refusal of the PA to send staff to man the Gaza side of
the Rafah Crossing to introduce COGAT to the Gaza Strip.

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