Israel Is Reviewing A Proposal To Install A “Moderate Muslim” Puppet Regime In Gaza

The plan, which Israeli officials have called “brilliant,” calls for re-educating Palestinians, destroying UNRWA, and razing refugee camps

By Yaniv Cogan, Drop Site

On Thursday, the Israeli Knesset voted overwhelmingly to thwart any effort to establish an independent Palestinian state and, in effect, doubled down on Israel’s longstanding project of confining Palestinians in increasingly isolated and uninhabitable ghettos. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear he opposes any ceasefire with Hamas that does not allow for him to continue his military campaign in Gaza and has worked to sabotage a negotiated end to the war.

At the same time, the Israeli government has been entertaining dystopian and fundamentally unrealistic “post-war” plans for governing Gaza—either through occupation, or, as one influential paper suggests, installing a “moderate Muslim” puppet regime.

Israeli security officials praised the recent academic paper recommending the elimination of democracy in Gaza and the rebuilding of Gazan society into a “moderate Muslim entity” in the mold of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. In the plan are several ideas for entirely remaking Gazan society, including razing refugee camps, banning “every existing” schoolbook, and establishing total control of the media. The proposal also calls for the elimination of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and shutting down the social and humanitarian programs run by Hamas and replacing them with an alternative Israeli-controlled structure.

“We, at the [Israeli] National Security Council, have read [this] excellent document,” its director Tzachi Hanegbi told i24 News in a recent interview, “and at the end of the day we, the decision makers, will have to take into account this analysis, because it’s a brilliant analysis.”