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What Will We Do the Day After the War? Israel’s Million-Dollar Question

Smoke rises from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza (EPA)
Smoke rises from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza (EPA)
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What Will We Do the Day After the War? Israel’s Million-Dollar Question

Smoke rises from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza (EPA)
Smoke rises from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza (EPA)

The million-dollar question in Israel, which has remained unanswered since the lengthy 2014 war on Gaza, revolved around the “day after” regaining control of the territory.

In Israel’s small-scale security and political cabinet, questions such as “What should our actions be on the following day? Should we maintain our presence? Reoccupy Gaza? Restore the Palestinian Authority? Or should we withdraw and potentially face a resurgence of Hamas' power?” were raised.

The questions were discussed by thinkers, journalists, writers, security experts, retired military personnel, and intelligence agencies, including Mossad and Shin Bet.

However, these questions have remained unanswered.

Nine years later, Israel finds itself compelled to fight in the heart of Gaza with the goal of toppling and destroying Hamas’ rule. Nevertheless, the issue of the “day after” the overthrow of the movement’s rule continues to be a cause for concern, assuming that the Israelis succeed in their mission.

Security Control without Clear Answers

After a month of fierce conflict with the Palestinians and significant pressure from the US, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would assume “comprehensive security responsibility” in Gaza “for an unspecified period” following the conclusion of the war against Hamas.

Netanyahu conveyed to ABC News that Israel will take on comprehensive security responsibility for an unspecified period because it has witnessed what happens when it doesn’t.

“When we don't assume that security responsibility, what we end up with is a scale of terrorism (Hamas) beyond imagination,” said Netanyahu.

While this marks the first time the premier has spoken about Israel’s vision for the day after Hamas, it remains unclear what he means regarding the extent of security responsibility.

Was Netanyahu implying a desire to occupy Gaza, occupy a portion in the north of the territory, and establish a security buffer zone with Israeli forces for some time, or was he speaking about continuing operations as needed after a complete withdrawal?

Israeli officials insist they do not seek to occupy Gaza, and President Joe Biden’s administration has also expressed opposition to this scenario.

Amir Tibon, writing in Haaretz, suggests there is no exit plan from the current crisis, and US officials are concerned about the absence of a clear exit strategy.

He added that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised this during his recent visit to the Israeli government, but his impression of the Israeli responses is that “the matter was not explicitly put up for discussion.”

Israeli state-owned free-to-air television channel “Kan 11” confirmed that Netanyahu's government has begun outlining the broad parameters for the post-war scenario and the nature of security control in the Gaza Strip, driven by ongoing US pressures to make a decision on this matter.

Who Holds Civilian Authority?

Over the past 30 days, Israeli officials have put forth several scenarios, including altering the shape of Gaza, reducing its territory, establishing an international governing body, deploying peacekeeping forces, or the return of the Palestinian Authority.

While US officials confirmed that discussions are ongoing, following ideas presented by Blinken to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid believed that the Palestinian Authority is the sole entity capable of assuming control over Gaza after a victory over Hamas.

Lapid asserted that civilian control should rest with the PA, while security control in the foreseeable future should remain in the hands of the Israeli military.

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Watching the Sun Rise over a New Damascus

Damascus is seen at sunrise from Mount Qasyun, which for years was off limits to regular people. (AFP)
Damascus is seen at sunrise from Mount Qasyun, which for years was off limits to regular people. (AFP)
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Watching the Sun Rise over a New Damascus

Damascus is seen at sunrise from Mount Qasyun, which for years was off limits to regular people. (AFP)
Damascus is seen at sunrise from Mount Qasyun, which for years was off limits to regular people. (AFP)

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Afaf Mohammed did what she could not for more than a decade: she climbed Mount Qasyun to admire a sleeping Damascus "from the sky" and watch the sun rise.

Through the long years of Syria's civil war, which began in 2011 with a government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, people were not allowed access to the mountain.

But now they can return to look down again on their capital, with its high-rise hotels and poor suburbs exhausted by war.

When night falls, long queues of vehicles slowly make their way up a twisting road to a brightly lit corniche at the summit.

Once there, they can relax, listen to music, eat and, inevitably, take selfies.

On some evenings there have even been firework displays.

Afaf Mohammed told AFP that "during the war we weren't allowed up to Mount Qasyun. There were few public places that were truly accessible."

At her feet, the panorama of Syria's capital stretched far and wide. It was the second time in weeks that the dentist in her thirties had come to the mountaintop.

A man sells tea on Mount Qasyun, from which government artillery used to pound opposition-held areas under Assad's rule. (AFP)

- Ideal for snipers -

Her first was just after a coalition of opposition fighters entered the city, ousting Assad on December 8.

On that occasion she came at dawn.

"I can't describe how I felt after we had gone through 13 years of hardship," she said, wrapped close in an abaya to ward off the chilly breeze.

Qasyun was off limits to the people of Damascus because it was an ideal location for snipers -- the great view includes elegant presidential palaces and other government buildings.

It was also from this mountain that artillery units for years pounded opposition-held areas at the gates of the capital.

Mohammed believes the revolution brought "a phenomenal freedom" that includes the right to visit previously forbidden places.

"No one can stop us now or block our way. No one will harm us," she said.

Patrols from the security forces of Syria's new rulers are in evidence, however.

They look on as a boy plays a tabla drum and young people on folding chairs puff from water pipes as others dance and sing, clapping their hands.

Everything is good-natured, reflecting the atmosphere of freedom that now bathes Syria since the end of Assad rule.

Gone are the stifling restrictions that once ruled the people's lives, and soldiers no longer throng the city streets.

Visitors to Mount Qasyun can now relax, listen to music, eat and snap selfies. (AFP)

- Hot drinks and snacks -

Mohammad Yehia, in his forties, said he once brought his son Rabih up to Mount Qasyun when he was small.

"But he doesn't remember having been here," he said.

After Assad fell, his son "asked if we would be allowed to go up there, and I said, 'Of course'," Yehia added.

So they came the next day.

Yehia knows the place well -- he used to work here, serving hot drinks and snacks from the back of a van to onlookers who came to admire the view.

He prides himself on being one of the first to come back again, more than a decade later.

The closure of Mount Qasyun to the people of Damascus robbed him of his livelihood at a time when the country was in economic freefall under Western sanctions. The war placed a yoke of poverty on 90 percent of the population.

"We were at the suffocation point," Yehia told AFP.

"Even if you worked all day, you still couldn't make ends meet.

"This is the only place where the people of Damascus can come and breathe a little. It's a spectacular view... it can make us forget the worries of the past."

Malak Mohammed, who came up the mountain with her sister Afaf, said that on returning "for the first time since childhood" she felt "immense joy".

"It's as if we were getting our whole country back," Malak said. Before, "we were deprived of everything".