Mick Hartley

It should by now be obvious that the October 7th attack required long term massive investment in infrastructure of tunnels, military build up, as well as strategic planning and coordination. Perhaps we can now put to bed any notion of the “poor Palestinians” being a charity… https://t.co/dnr9iZogs3

— Dr. Einat Wilf (@EinatWilf) December 17, 2023

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It should by now be obvious that the October 7th attack required long term massive investment in infrastructure of tunnels, military build up, as well as strategic planning and coordination. Perhaps we can now put to bed any notion of the “poor Palestinians” being a charity basket case of hapless know-nothings.

The problem was never the capabilities of the Palestinians. They have plenty. It was their priorities. The Palestinian top priority, for over a century, has been for the Jews to have no state and no sovereignty anywhere in the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (I was told that specifying the river and the sea is necessary these days…).

Towards that destructive cause of No-Jewish-State Palestinians have mobilized their efforts, capabilities and resources.

Therefore any discussion of sending once more billions of dollars into “Gaza reconstruction” needs to rest on an assurance that the Palestinians – leadership and people – have abandoned their “From the River to the Sea” ideology and are truly interested in pursuing the constructive cause of Palestinian sovereignty next to the Jewish sovereignty – rather than instead of it.

One cannot want for Palestinians (a sovereign state in part of the land next to the Jewish state of Israel) what they do not want for themselves. One cannot force Palestinians to turn Gaza into a prosperous model of Palestinian self-governance if they prefer to turn it into a launch pad to “liberate Palestine from the River to the Sea”.

Palestinians are not hapless. They simply need to decide the at they prioritize building for themselves rather than destroying for others. Once that becomes their priority, all else will fall into place – including, absolutely, their own sovereign state next to the Jewish state of Israel, and finally – peace.