Israel mulls outsourcing occupation of Gaza to private military firms

Israeli media outlets recently reported that the extreme-right-wing Israeli government is considering a proposal by Global Delivery Company (GDC), a private security and logistics firm led by Israel-American businessman Moti Kahana, to establish biometrically secure "aid zones" within the Gaza Strip.

Under the pretext of securing humanitarian aid, the GDC would allow the individuals who live only in the Gaza-based neighbourhood to receive aid and potentially return to their homes, the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper noted.

"It is suggested that this model will be located in the Al-Atatra neighbourhood, northwest of the city of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip as the American fighters will allow the residents of the neighbourhood to return to it, providing them with aid, and appointing a tribal figure as the head of the neighbourhood council," Yedioth Ahronoth claimed.

If the experiment is successful, it will be the model for the reconstruction of Gaza and lead to the "neutralisation" of Hamas's civil authority in the Strip, Yedioth Ahronoth added.

In an interview with the Times of Israel, Kahana described GDC's plan as seeking "to build a 'gated community'". 

Outsourcing an occupation

Seemingly as part of implementing this goal, the Israeli army is currently conducting a large-scale military operation in the north of Gaza, including Jabalia refugee camp and the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.

The ongoing attack by Israel has killed more than 850 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,000 others, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian government media office. It also forced more than 20,000 Palestinian families to evacuate their houses and be displaced to Gaza City and the southern parts of Gaza.

"It is clear that the Israeli occupation is going to implements its the so-called 'Generals' Plan' to prepare the area for its second plan of maintaining long-term security control over Gaza," Ismail Thawabta, the head of the government media, told The New Arab.

"As a result, the Israeli army is committing all the kinds of the crimes and massacres against our people in the north, starting from killing them, preventing the entry of the basic food and medical supplies and forcing people to evacuate their homes," Thawabta said.

For their parts, Palestinians in Gaza TNA spoke with expressed their refusal of engaging with these "suspicious companies", believing that this would be a prelude for a long-term Israeli military occupation.

Mohammed Abed, a Palestinian man in Jabalia who has refused to leave his home despite the Israeli siege imposed for more than three weeks, said to TNA that he will not leave his land and that he "will not engage with any suspicious companies that provide food or aid to prevent Israel from achieving its goals."

"Israel imposed a siege, hunger, poverty and death on us, but we faced it with our steadfastness, and we will not surrender until the last Israeli soldier leaves Gaza," he remarked.

 "The Israeli army contacted us and asked us to help distribute aid, but we refused because we do not want any non-Palestinian presence in the Strip," a clan leader in Beit Lahia, who preferred to remain anonymous, told TNA

"Despite the hunger and people's need for the basics of life, it will not be at the expense of our cause and the presence of a Palestinian civil and security authority that must run Gaza," the clan leader insisted. "We will not deal with any foreign entity supervised by Israel to manage Gaza or distribute aid."

Alternatives to Palestinian self-determination

"Netanyahu is looking for any alternatives and opportunities that would completely remove the Palestinian Authority from the scene, which would reinforce the division between the West Bank and Gaza and expand Israeli hegemony and control over the Strip as a permanent solution," Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian political analyst based in Ramallah, said to TNA.

"The United States is helping Netanyahu achieve his goals. However, the lack of oversight over the performance of security companies is dangerous and does not guarantee their commitment to international humanitarian law while distributing aid, which means that the residents of the Strip will direct their resistance against these organisations," al-Masri added.

Ismat Mansour, another Ramallah-based political analyst, believes that Israel's attempt to outsource the occupation to a private firm will not succeed.

"No matter how long the war lasts, Israel will be forced to find logical solutions for Gaza, which has always exhausted Israel politically, militarily and economically... [Israel] cannot enjoy security as long as the coastal enclave remains unstable," Mansour told TNA.

"The only solution to confront all Israeli plans to end the existence of any Palestinian government is to unify the Palestinian Authority and restore internal reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, which will be the beginning of a new phase after the war," Hussam al-Dajani, a Palestinian analyst based in Gaza, opined to TNA.

"Restoring national unity will give the Palestinians political power on the regional and international levels and will receive the blessing of the Arabs and the United States, which will prevent Israel from achieving its colonial goals," he argued.

"Throughout the years of Palestinian division, Israel has benefited greatly, and this will not stop as long as the two parties [Fatah and Hamas] remain divided [...] I believe that the time has come to save what can be saved from the Palestinian project and the local population in the Gaza Strip who are facing the risk of death either by Israeli bombing, hunger, or epidemics and diseases," he added.