Israel far-right ministers reject US-backed postwar Gaza panel | Israel
Far-right members of Israel’s governing coalition on Sunday rejected a US-backed plan for post-war governance in Gaza and criticized their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for failing to annex Palestinian territory and establish new Israeli settlements in the region.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, described Netanyahu’s “unwillingness to take responsibility for Gaza” as the “original sin” after the White House selected world leaders to join the so-called Gaza “peace board”, which includes representatives of Turkey and Qatar who are critical of Israel’s war in the region.
According to Smotrich, himself a settler living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Israeli prime minister should instead “establish a military government there to encourage migration and settlement and thus ensure Israel’s security for many years to come.”
The White House this week announced the establishment of a “Gaza executive board” that will work under a broader “peace board” chaired by Donald Trump as part of its 20-point plan to end the war.
The board of directors, which was announced to have an advisory role, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali al-Sevadi, among other regional and international officials.
Smotrich, presumably referring to Qatar and Türkiye, said on
“The Prime Minister must stand firm on this issue, even if it means managing a conflict with representatives of our great friend and President Trump.”
Netanyahu held a meeting with his coalition partners on Sunday to calm tensions and consider his next move.
The prime minister’s main challenge is to contain his far-right allies, whose continued participation in the government is key to his political survival and who never accepted the US-brokered ceasefire last October.
Netanyahu objected to the plan on Saturday, without identifying who he was, arguing that some of the appointments were “not coordinated with Israel and contrary to Israel’s policy.” He told his secretary of state, Gideon Sa’ar, to contact U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Israel has previously strongly opposed any role for Türkiye in post-war Gaza, as relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply since the war began in October 2023.
In addition to appointing Turkey’s foreign minister to the board, Trump invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to join the general peace council, along with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Argentine president Javier Milei.
The White House said Trump’s plan would consist of three bodies: the peace board, which Trump chairs; The committee of Palestinian technocrats tasked with managing Gaza; and the Gaza board of directors, which will play an advisory role.
The Palestinian technocratic committee held its first meeting in Cairo on Saturday.
According to the document seen by Reuters, the draft sent by the US administration to about 60 countries calls on members to contribute $1 billion in cash if they want their membership to last more than three years.
“Each Member State shall hold office for a period of not more than three years from the entry into force of this Charter, subject to renewal by the President,” the document, first reported by Bloomberg News, states. “The three-year membership period shall not apply to Member States which have contributed more than $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Peace Board during the first year of entry into force of the Charter.”
The United States this week said its Gaza ceasefire plan had entered a second phase, shifting from implementing the ceasefire to disarmament of Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
The focus of the second phase shifted from simply halting the conflict to establishing interim administration, demilitarization, and reconstruction in the region; This is a dramatic escalation of diplomatic ambition in the face of the Israeli army’s persistent violence.
At least 451 Palestinians have been reported killed since the ceasefire came into force in October last year. Life in the region remains unstable. Although the air strikes and gunfire slowed down, they did not stop. At the same time, recent storms have further exacerbated the crisis, causing deaths and flooding in camps that were already overstretched.
High winter winds caused walls to collapse on flimsy tents housing displaced Palestinians last Tuesday, killing at least four people. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, a 27-day-old baby died in Gaza due to severe cold on Saturday, while the number of children who died from hypothermia since the beginning of the winter season in the region increased to eight.
AFP contributed to this report
