Israel should reject the new Board of Peace (BoP) plan for the Gaza Strip because it contradicts understandings reached with the United States last month, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Missions Minister Orit Strock told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a letter on Sunday.
The BoP last week proposed a six-month Gaza recovery framework that includes a $2.45 billion package of 66 funded programs for shelter, debris clearance, water, hospitals, schools, energy, roads, and jobs, to be advanced alongside deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), and what the board described as weapons decommissioning.
In the letter, the ministers said the official proposal now advanced by the BoP is “completely contrary to the understandings that were reached between you and the US administration and the Board of Peace” after the publication of the 15-point road map, which Israel had already announced it would not accept.
Smotrich, Strock demand Gaza demilitarization come first
Those understandings, they wrote, were clear: Any reconstruction, any entry of foreign forces – including the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and the ISF – and any IDF withdrawal “will not be carried out before the complete demilitarization of the entire Gaza Strip.”
The ministers said the latest statement by the heads of the Peace Council “is completely contrary to this understanding – which was reached less than a month ago.” In their view, they said, the document is “an attempt to advance the ‘road map’ again in contradiction to the understandings.”
Israel cannot remain silent, they wrote, adding: “Exactly as at the time of the publication of the ‘road map,’ these serious matters cannot be left without a formal and unequivocal Israeli clarification that completely rejects the ‘regional stages method.’”
Smotrich, Strock outline alleged contradictions to Israeli position
They then listed four additional contradictions with what they described as Israel’s agreed positions.
First, they said, the statement ignored that Hamas is not disarming. “It continues to arm itself, grow stronger, train, and carry out attacks against us every day,” they wrote. As a result, “there is no possibility of carrying out reconstruction projects in the immediate term.”
Second, they said, the statement ignores a cabinet decision authorizing the entry of only 200 ISF soldiers – “not 500, and certainly not 5,000.” That decision, they added, was based on the force’s role as the implementer of demilitarization, not on the role assigned to it in the road map as “a supervisor of IDF activity.”
Third, they said, the statement ignores the plan’s leading principle: that Gaza “must be completely demilitarized of weapons.” There is, therefore, “no place whatsoever for ‘acquisition of weapons’ for any forces that would be stationed there,” they wrote, “and certainly not as long as the law that will govern Gaza is the antisemitic Palestinian Authority law, which determines that the murder of Jews is not an offense but a ‘commandment’ that has a reward.”
Fourth, they said, the statement ignores Israel’s “basic and [agreed-upon] right to prevent reconstruction that would create a threat to its residents.” It was “unthinkable” that the entire 365 square kilometers of Gaza would be rebuilt, because “even after full demilitarization of Gaza – no reconstruction will be carried out in areas that threaten our communities,” they wrote.
The ministers concluded their letter by telling Netanyahu they expect him “to clarify in an unequivocal manner that these parts of the statement by the heads of the Peace Council are not acceptable to Israel and, therefore, will not be implemented,”