The rejection by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of suggestions that the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war was not surprising.
But then he went further.
Having voiced objections to Gaza turning into what he called a "Hamas-stan" or a "Fatah-stan,” he implied that rather than brining the PA to Gaza, Israel could take conflict to the West Bank.
His words came as Israel is already aggressive in that part of Palestine, allowing the arming of its settlers there, who can oppress Palestinians with impunity, while encroaching further on their lands and properties.
Netanyahu went further in terms of domestic politics. He attributed responsibility for Hamas’ 7 October attacks – and the consequences of them for Israel’s once-proud security reputation – to more dovish politicians at home: The Labour Party and the centrist groups that endorsed the Oslo Accords of 1993.
Rather than bringing peace, he said those agreements strengthened Palestinian politics. Then distanced himself once again from the Likud Party’s previous endorsement of the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, which he opposed in 2005, but was backed by other notable figures, including Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and Tzipi Livni.
The enemy of Oslo
And so Netanyahu’s continued exploitation of war for political gain goes beyond trying to avoid the blame and mitigate the consequences for his government. It has become a means to settle old scores, from discrediting the Oslo accords to dismatling the political set-up of the Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank.
This is a goal he has been seeking ever since he first held power in 1996.
He stands as the principal architect of the policy to disengage from the Oslo Accords and undermine the very existence of the PA, as the most hawkish Israeli politician in this respect, beyond even Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon.
He assumed the leadership of Likud and the country with the explicit intention of opposing the agreement.
And the Oslo Accords went on lead to the assassination of the prime minister and leader of the Labour Party who backed them, Yitzhak Rabin, in November 1995.
Throughout Netanyahu’s three tenures as prime minister, he thwarted the formation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and aligned Likud with the nationalist and religious right.
He has entrenched these policies during his spells in office – from 1996 to 1999; 2009 to 2021; and his current tenure from late 2022. He is the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, surpassing even its founder David Ben-Gurion, whose tenure lasted only 12 years.
