The current population of the Gaza Strip is approximately 2.2 million people, residing in an area of 360 square km., in extremely crowded conditions, without ample employment opportunities, without industry, and without a port.
Sinai, which is adjacent to the Gaza Strip, has an area of 60,000 square km. (close to 170 times larger than Gaza) with a population of roughly 600,000. Thus, the population density of Gaza is roughly 600 times larger than that of Sinai.
Ethnically and culturally, the people in Gaza and Sinai are essentially alike. They speak the same language, share the same religion, and many even share family ties. This is particularly apparent in Rafah, which straddles the border between Sinai and Gaza, splitting many families on either side of the city.
Today, Sinai largely serves as an arena for the activities of drug and weapons smugglers and human trafficking. Its vast territory is rendered idle, with little to no agriculture or solar energy, despite its great potential for both. Even the El-Arish port is largely empty and has limited capacity. Turning El-Arish into the main port of Gaza would be a boon for everyone: both the people of Egypt and of Gaza would benefit greatly.
Thus, Sinai presents an efficient and practical solution for the Palestinians in Gaza, which would not entail the migration of millions of people across large distances. In accordance with President Trump’s initiative, one million people from Gaza could relocate to Sinai and be set on a path towards gainful employment, economic growth, and prosperity.
It must be emphasized that the sole requirement for such a solution is to insist on the principle of freedom of movement.
Claims that the voluntary emigration of people from Gaza is in any way objectionable, morally or politically, are disingenuous and hypocritical, given the open arms with which refugees have been accepted internationally from other combat arenas, such as Syria or Ukraine.
All that is needed is for Egypt to open the border at Rafah and desist from its refusal to let Gazans out. The moment it does so, the large majority of Gaza’s inhabitants, probably as many as 80 percent, will leave of their own volition.
In recent years, Egypt has grown increasingly dependent on the United States and Israel. Without generous American financial and security assistance, it is doubtful whether the current Egyptian regime could function or even survive.
When ISIS gained a foothold in Sinai several years ago, it was Israel, specifically the Israeli air force and special forces, that got the job done and helped Egypt overcome the severe problem. Today, when Egypt faces criticism in Congress and calls to curtail US assistance due to its human rights record, it is to Israel that it turns for assistance.
No more one-sided relationship with Egypt
Thus, the relationship cannot continue to be one-sided. If we want to solve the problem in Gaza, we need to get Egypt to play its part. Today, it is not clear whether Egypt wants to solve the problem in Gaza or perpetuate it.
Judging by Egypt’s conduct, one gains the impression that its strategy is to preserve the problem to keep Israel occupied with it. In this way, Egypt maintains its status as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, whilst at the same time profiting from smuggled goods passing from Sinai to Gaza as well as from goods passing ‘officially’ through the Rafah crossing.
In practice, Egypt collaborates completely with Hamas. All of the positions they convey in the context of mediation efforts are coordinated with Hamas. Moreover, Egypt’s current deployment in Sinai is well in excess of what is permitted by the security annex of the Camp David Accords. In some cases, they have done so with Israel’s permission; in other cases, they have unilaterally exceeded the manpower and weaponry permitted by the agreement.
While Israel is preoccupied with Hamas, Egypt has been engaged in a dizzyingly rapid force buildup, purchasing new weapons in large quantities. Moreover, in all of Egypt’s war exercises, it is Israel that serves as the target adversary, not Libya, Saudi Arabia, or any other country.
Thus, the entire framework of relations between the US and Egypt and between Israel and Egypt needs to be reviewed. Unfortunately, in this domain, as in others that have cost Israel dearly, the political and security establishment is beholden to an outdated approach, unwilling to consider new ideas, and, in particular, unwilling to contemplate posing demands to the Egyptian side.
The overall responsibility for the Gaza Strip should rest with Egypt, as it did prior to 1967, under the auspices of an Arab League mandate. These are 22 Arab countries that can back the initiative both financially and from a military and organizational standpoint. Egypt would be responsible for the provision of electricity, water, fuel, and commercial goods into Gaza to the roughly one million Palestinians who would remain there.
Trump’s initiative pertaining to the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza offers, for the first time, a genuine opportunity to change things for the better by providing a real and practical solution to the core problems that have cumulated in the region. It opens the path to curtailing terror alongside pragmatic and responsible management of the area in order to foster employment, economic growth, and prosperity.
We must make an effort – the US and Israel – to convince the Egyptians to play an active role in implementing Trump’s bold vision and to confidently rebut arguments raised against it, which, at their core, are little more than a reflection of conventional, unimaginative thinking.
The author is the head of the Yisrael Beytenu Party and a former foreign minister of Israel.
Jesus Christ is King
