How to resolve the impossible Gaza situation?

The events of October 7th shook me to the core. The sheer barbarism and inhumane cruelty have shown the world with no uncertainty who Israel is dealing with. The bombing of Hamas’ positions in Gaza is absolutely justified.

Now let me look at the Gaza situation from a different angle. I am afraid that Israel will start a ground operation, giving Hamas and other Israel haters more “evidence” of Israeli “cruelty” and “unproportional” response. I don’t know if this is Hamas’ first, second or third goal but no matter how much effort IDF puts into avoiding civilian casualties, the more civilians die in Gaza the better it is from Hamas stand standpoint, the more Palestinains are dead the happier Hamas is.

I also don’t want to get into a grievances olympics. Yes, there are legitimate grievances on both sides and there are many that are made up. I don’t want to get into it because a) I am biased and would see most issues from an Israeli perspective and b) I don’t think going through the grievances and discussing how terrible life is for Palestinian Arabs is not productive and wouldn’t lead to anything constructive.

And here’s my last point that needs to be said before I lay down my idea here. Israel wants a functioning demilitarized Palestinian State next to Israel. Palestinians want a Palestinian State instead of Israel. That’s where the conflict lies.

Israel needs to flip the book and change the balance of the situation in Gaza. Let’s look at this from the first principal perspective. Here are my starting points that are axiomatic and I hope I don’t have to defend these:

• People in Gaza are living under the cruel Hamas dictatorship.
• All the funds donated to make the lives of Palestinians better (after they take their corruption surcharge of course) to attack Israel.
• Israel wants to improve conditions in Gaza while maintaining security on the Gaza border.
• There are many countries and organizations that would be interested in assisting people in Gaza if they knew that money and efforts would go toward improving the conditions on the ground and not assisting Hamas.

If we agree with these points, let’s think of a situation where these points (goals) can be achieved.

There needs to be an entity that governs Gaza that is committed to improving the lives of the people of Gaza. This governing entity must also be committed to peace with Israel and has to have enough of the cloud and international prestige to attract donations from governments, organizations, and companies around the world that will support the peaceful development of Gaza.

Ideally, such an entity should have enough economic resources (funding) to be able to lead the process of investing in Gaza. This governing entity also needs to demonstrate to Israel that it won’t allow Hamas or any other terrorist organization to operate in Gaza. Priority one — it must eradicate any militant activities and demilitarize Gaza. I think such an entity needs to be Sunni Muslim to have any acceptance and buy-in on the ground.

If this happens, it could be very good for people in Gaza, there social and economic situation will improve. There will be jobs and resources available. If the security situation improves, Israel and Egypt will gradually ease the blockade and control of Gaza’s border which in turn will improve the situation in Gaza even more.

Israel has the resources to help Gaza. A new source of fresh water is needed, Israel has desalination technology. In the past, it offered to build a desalination plant in Gaza but Hamas unsurprisingly said no to that. With new leadership, this desalination plan could become a very quick reality. And there are a thousand examples like this where current Palestinian leadership is doing everything it can to make sure that Palestinian suffering is front and center and make sure to blame Israel for it all. “Normalization” is a dirty word in Palestinian Governmen’s vocabulary.

Now why would any Sunni organization or Sunni government of any country want to jump into this snake pit? Well, if anybody manages to transform Gaza from Hell On Earth to a socially and economically thriving country, it would be a triumph incomparable to anything else. It will improve the prestige of such a country and its rulers. The legacy of such a deed would be sealed for generations. Naturally, Iran, Hamas and other terrorist organizations would be against anything like that and that will show the world in no uncertain terms how little they care about people in Gaza.

So it seems that this utopia, if achieved would be good for people in Gaza, good for Israel, it’s neighbors, and whoever steps in to take on this impossible task. Only terrorists and their supporters would not be happy about it.

Who can take on such a task? Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud! Saudi Arabia is interested in peace with Israel, it is also interested in confirming its leadership position in the Muslim world, as it competes with Iran for such position. The role of taking over Gaza, kicking out Iran-supported Hamas and other smaller terrorist organizations would weaken Iran’s influence in the region and if successful, a new Gaza governed by MBS lead administration would dramatically improve SA’s standing in the Muslim world as well as in the US and Europe. Israel needs a partner to bring peace to the region, Palestinian leadership both in Gaza and in the West Bank has shown that they are incapable of agreeing to anything other than total annihilation of Israel. A new Sunni Muslim leadership could be the element needed to move forward.

Also, maybe I am naive but if the Gaza transformation is successful, Arabs living in Judea and Samaria aka the West Bank of the Jordan River would be interested in a similar transformation.

If Israel and SA sign a peace accord and announce a partnership to make Gaza an example where Jews and Muslims work together in peace to improve the lives and security of both Palestinians and Israelis this would be a historic achievement worth a thousand Nobel Prizes.