Hopes for peace and reconstruction in Gaza have suffered a deadly blow after US envoys unveiled a plan that analysts say will split the territory in two and set the stage for the prolonged, if not permanent, Israeli occupation of more than half the Strip.
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With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making any further military withdrawal conditional upon the disarmament of a recalcitrant Hamas, the future of the proposed International Stabilisation Force (ISF) meant to take control of peaceful areas of Gaza remains stuck in limbo, analysts say.
To be made up of troops from Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt, Azerbaijan, Indonesia and possibly Turkey, the ISF faces the daunting prospect of having to fight the Palestinian militant group instead of easing the desperate plight of Gazans – something their governments have no intention of allowing.
“You really almost have a perfect storm in Gaza that is frustrating the advance right now of the Trump Gaza peace plan,” said Kenneth Katzman, senior Middle East fellow of the Soufan Centre, a New York-based think tank.
“What we’re left with is this dual Gaza … and there really seems little way forward here,” Katzman told This Week in Asia.
Under the plan announced on Tuesday by Jared Kushner, adviser and son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, the Israeli-occupied eastern half and southernmost town of Rafah would become the focus of reconstruction projects.