Extract from ABC News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented his first official "day after" plan for the Gaza Strip once the war there ends.
The document proposes Israel would maintain security control over all land west of Jordan, including the occupied West Bank and Gaza — territories where the Palestinians hope to establish an independent state.
The plan, which Mr Netanyahu presented to the security cabinet on Thursday, comes amid intensifying international calls to end the fighting that has destroyed large swathes of Gaza and to revive efforts to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The US, Israel's main ally, has said that only a two-state solution has a chance of bringing long-term peace.
'Unilateral recognition' of a Palestinian state rejected
In the long-term goals listed, Mr Netanayhu rejects the "unilateral recognition" of a Palestinian state.
He said a settlement with the Palestinians would only be achieved through direct negotiations between the two sides, without naming who the Palestinian party would be.
In Gaza, Mr Netanyahu outlined demilitarisation and deradicalisation as goals to be achieved in the medium term.
He did not elaborate on when that intermediary stage would begin or how long it would last.
But he conditions the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, much of which has been laid to waste by Israel's offensive, on its complete demilitarisation.
Plans for Israel to have presence on Gaza-Egypt border
Mr Netanyahu proposed Israel would have a presence on the Gaza-Egypt border in the south of the enclave and would cooperate with Egypt and the US in that area to prevent smuggling attempts, including at the Rafah crossing.
In Gaza, the plan proposes replacing Hamas administrative control with local representatives "who are not affiliated with terrorist countries or groups and are not financially supported by them", setting demilitarisation and deradicalisation as goals to be achieved in the medium term.
He also called for shutting down the UN Palestinian refugees agency, UNRWA, and replacing it with other international aid groups.
"The prime minister's document of principles reflects broad public consensus over the goals of the war and for replacing Hamas rule in Gaza with a civilian alternative," a statement by the prime minister's office said.
The document was distributed to security cabinet members to start a discussion on the issue.
Dismissed by Palestinian officials as doomed to failure
The spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, told Reuters that Mr Netanyahu's proposal was doomed to fail, as were any Israeli plans to change the geographic and demographic realities in Gaza.
"If the world is genuinely interested in having security and stability in the region, it must end Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and recognise an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," he said.
The war in Gaza has revived international calls for a two-state solution as the ultimate goal for resolving the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Little progress has been made on achieving Palestinian statehood since the signing of the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s.
Among the obstacles impeding it are expanding Israeli settlements in territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Most countries regard the settlements, which in many areas cut Palestinian communities off from each other, as a violation of international law.
Israel claims a biblical birthright to the land. On Thursday, it said it would approve more than 3,000 new housing units in settlements.
Vowing to destroy Hamas since their attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on blockaded Gaza that has killed more than 29,400 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The offensive has displaced most of the territory's population and caused widespread hunger and disease.
Ceasefire talks underway in Paris
Meanwhile, in Paris on Friday, Gaza truce talks were underway in what appears to be the most serious push for weeks to halt the fighting in the battered Palestinian enclave and see Israeli and foreign hostages released.
A source briefed on the ceasefire talks, who could not be identified by name or nationality, said talks had begun with Israel's head of Mossad intelligence service meeting separately with each party — Qatar, Egypt and United States.
"There are budding signs of optimism about being able to move forward toward the start of a serious negotiation," the source said.
Israel is now expected to participate in talks this weekend in Paris with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Two Egyptian security sources confirmed that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel would head on Friday to Paris for the talks with the Israelis, after wrapping up talks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday.
Israel has not publicly commented on the Paris talks.
The last time similar talks were held in Paris, at the start of February, they produced an outline for the first extended ceasefire of the war, approved by Israel and the United States.
Hamas responded with a counterproposal, which Mr Netanyahu then rejected as "delusional".
Reuters
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