Can the Palestinian Authority Really Govern Gaza After the War? - The New York Times

Can the Palestinian Authority Really Govern Gaza After the War? - The New York Times John Whitbeck writes: "Public speculation by most Western politicians and commentators regarding the "Day After" Israel's genocidal assault against the people of Gaza finally ends appears to accept as givens that Israel will not succeed in achieving its scarcely hidden objective of making the Gaza Strip unlivable and emptying it of Palestinians but will succeed in achieving its publicly proclaimed objective of totally eradicating Hamas, thereby leaving a vacuum which will need to be filled by some other form of governance for survivors continuing to live in Gaza. In his article transmitted below, TIMES chief diplomatic correspondent and distinguished recipient Steven Erlanger offers a much more sophisticated, knowledgeable and realistic assessment of what the future could and should hold. NOTE: While Steven cites an Israeli figure of 1850 Palestinians "arrested" by Israel in the West Bank since October 7, Palestinian sources put the figure for the number of hostages taken by Israel in the West Bank since October 7 at over 3000. In any event, in light of these numbers, the 150 Palestinian women and children released yesterday and to be released in the coming days are overwhelmed by the number of new hostages recently taken. Israel is clearly capable of restocking and inflating its inventory of Palestinian hostages whenever and however it chooses."