New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says that the time has come for America to ask Israel to completely withdraw from Gaza, in exchange for the release of all Israeli hostages and a permanent ceasefire under international supervision, including the United States, NATO and Arab observers. Without any exchange of prisoners for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
He adds that the time has come for the administration of US President Joe Biden to provide Israel with more than just nice signals about how it can fight the Gaza war without killing thousands of civilians. Washington must also stop wasting time searching for the ideal UN resolution for a ceasefire regarding Gaza, and tell Israel that its war goal of wiping out the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) from the face of the earth will not be achieved, and that the cost of achieving this goal will not be affordable for America. Nor can the world bear it.
Netanyahu has become useless
The writer continued to present his recommendations, saying that the time has come for the United States to tell Israel how to declare victory in Gaza and return to its homes, because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now become completely useless and unfit as a leader because he prioritizes his electoral needs over the interests of the Israelis, not to mention The interests of Israel’s best friend, President Biden.
Friedman explains the reasons for his recommendations, saying that the vast majority of Israelis today want the return of more than 120 detainees, in addition to any other war goals, and the issue of these detainees makes the Israelis crazy, because it makes rational military decision-making there impossible, especially since many experts believe that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has now surrounded himself with these detainees as human shields. It will be impossible to kill him without killing many of them as well, and any Israeli government that does so will be exposed to a storm of wrath from the Israeli public.
Israel has no plan
He added that Israel caused severe damage to the main urban areas in Gaza and the Hamas tunnel network and killed thousands of this movement’s fighters, in addition to thousands of civilians, and Hamas as a military organization deserves to be punished, and it has deteriorated greatly, he said, but this huge number of deaths The wounded and displaced civilians in Gaza led to a humanitarian catastrophe, and Israel has not had a plan since the beginning of the war for how to manage and address this humanitarian crisis, and how to urge Palestinians and non-Hamas Arabs to come forward and partner with Israel to reform and manage Gaza after the war.
Friedman reported that there is increasing discomfort in the Israeli army leadership over the fact that Netanyahu’s far-right government is asking him to fight a war in Gaza without a clearly defined political goal, timetable, or mechanism for victory and peace.
The writer mentioned more reasons to support what he called for, saying that the best way to distort and destroy Sinwar’s reputation is for Israel to leave Gaza and make him come out of his tunnel, face his people and the world and bear the responsibility of rebuilding Gaza alone.
The famous American writer claimed that there is great tension between Sinwar and Hamas leaders abroad “because they have begun talks with leaders from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank about reunifying and renewing the Palestinian leadership after the war to enable some kind of long-term peace arrangements with Israel.”
He said that Israel has a choice that enables it to own the future of Gaza forever, and does not leave it with one of the worst humanitarian disasters on this planet, which is to leave Gaza now, and this would allow America and its allies to show the whole world that there is only one reason for the death of the people of Gaza later. Hamas does not accept the ceasefire.
Turn the tables
He went on to say that since the beginning of this war, Israel has had to answer every day for its actions, mistakes, and transgressions, and Sinwar did not have to do that for a single minute, and it is time to turn the tables.
He added that Israel’s complete withdrawal and an internationally monitored ceasefire, in exchange for all the detainees, would shift all political, military, diplomatic and moral pressure to Sinwar, not just for one day, but for the future.
The worst news for America’s adversaries
Friedman also claimed that Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis desperately want Israel to remain in Gaza forever so that it can bear beyond its capacity militarily, economically, diplomatically and morally, and that the worst news they could receive is to hear that Israel is offering a complete withdrawal in exchange for the release of all its detainees and a monitored ceasefire. Internationally.
He added that it is the worst possible news for China and Russia to hear that Biden arranged this end to the war.
He said that he has no doubt that the Israeli army is capable of fortifying its borders in Gaza, and benefiting from all the lessons that led to the Hamas attack on the seventh of last October.
The writer called on the Biden team to engage the Israelis in a loud, frank, and unrestrained discussion about how much they have already achieved militarily, how best to consolidate their gains, and how to end this war with a kind of new balance of power in favor of Israel, before Israel drowns itself in the quicksand in Gaza, chasing an imaginary victory. .