Israel’s war on Gaza created contradictions in favor of Palestine: Moroccan academic

By Khalid Mejdoup

RABAT, Morocco (AA) - Moroccan academic Abdel Samad Belkabir said the plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza had been met with a “massive failure.”

The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip had sparked contradictions in favor of Palestine, within Israeli society, between Tel Aviv and its Western allies and within the West, he said.

Israel launched a massive military campaign against the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, last month.

Israel has killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

Belkabir, 76, told Anadolu that “the Arab, and Muslim people and a large portion of individuals in the world have awakened to what Israel is really about.”

“I rule out any success in displacing the Palestinians from Gaza, as the Israelis were not able to remove even a single Palestinian from Gaza, which indicates a massive failure,” he said.

Belkabir stressed the existence of great contradictions within Israel, its relationship with its allies and within the West.

- Massive failure

Regarding Israel's goals in the war on Gaza, Belkabir said it is "displacement, as it has been linked to Israel since its founding in 1948 on occupied land; both the displacement of Palestinians outside Palestine and the displacement of settlers into it."

“Israel's goal is not to take hostages, but to expel the Gazans from their lands,” he said.

"The population of Gaza reached 1.2 million individuals, and despite the scale of destruction and killing and everything done to displace them to the southern Gaza Strip, the Israelis did not succeed, as there are still 850,000 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip," said Belkabir.

"Time is a crucial element in this context, given that Israel is rushing to implement its goals by promoting lies, but time is not on its side," he said. “To implement this plan, they need a year, and this is impossible because international public opinion is rising in favor of Palestine, the scandals of Israel and America are increasing, and the military balance of power is shifting.”

Regarding the relationship of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to Arab consciousness, Belkabir pointed out the importance of the demonstrations in support of Gaza.

“This operation directly affects Arab consciousness, because Israel rose against the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations to prevent them from unity, development, progress, and democracy,” he said.

Belkabir stressed that "Al-Aqsa Mosque has always been targeted. What is new is the great movement in the Islamic street, and the transformation of awareness into political action."

- Many contradictions

Regarding the situation inside Israel, Belkabir said, “There is an explosion of contradictions inside Israel between the Jewish sects.”

“There are also indications of other contradictions between Israel and its allies: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and Washington,” he said.

“There is an explosion of contradictions within the West itself, as parties began to express different positions,” he said, stressing “the importance of the southern American countries’ support for Palestine.”

“This is a great victory for the Palestinian cause,” he said.

Belkabir expects changes in the political scene after the war on Gaza, and pointed out that "a counter-exodus from Israel has been recorded, as many Israelis have begun to realize that they have no future in the land of Palestine."

"After the war, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doomed to fall,” he said.

Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister in Israel. Since last December, Netanyahu has headed a government described in Israeli media as "the most extreme right-wing government in the history of Israel."

Belkabir expects that “rational discourse, such as that of Yitzhak Rabin, would be restored.”

Rabin is a former prime minister who reached the Oslo Accords with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1993 and was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing extremist who was opposed to the deal.

"Hence, there would be a return to talking about the content of the Oslo Accords and the two-state solution, especially since US President Joe Biden announced that after the war there will be negotiations on the two-state issue,” said Belkabir.

“This discourse is adopted by many large countries, such as the United States, Russia, and the European Union, regardless of its effectiveness,” the academic said.

- Future of Gaza

Regarding the future of Gaza, Belkabir expects “the siege on the Strip to be lifted, as the aggression cannot continue indefinitely.”

“Gaza requires managing its port, that is, openness to the outside world,” said Belkabir.

The population of Gaza has suffered from extremely deteriorating conditions as a result of the ongoing Israeli siege on the Strip since Hamas won legislative elections in 2006.

Belkabir opined that "if this is done, the authority in Gaza will be liberated thanks to the gas wealth in the Gaza Sea, which will constitute an impetus for the Gazans to become stronger with such resources."

He also expects that "two billion Muslims will contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza, countries will also contribute to the reconstruction and provision of various infrastructures in the Strip.”

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi