I get a weekly newsletter on Middle East affairs from the Emirates Policy Center. It is fascinating because the Emirates (UAE*) is a moderate voice in the area. They have official relations with Israel and good relations with most other countries, bar Iran and Qatar.
The newsletter examines the problems of getting an official cease-fire or final peace plan with these Israeli conditions. I will confess the Netzarim Corridor issue was new to me.
These are where those corridors are located.
From the Israeli point of view, these are vital to their security. The Philadelphi corridor was controlled by Egypt until the lastest war. Both Egypt and Israel watched the corridor for tunnels that supplied arms from Iran to Hamas, but missed many.
From Gaza's point of view (Hamas or not), this corridor controls the ONLY access point not controlled by Israel, the Rafah border crossing. And so this is the only way to bring in supplies of food, water, medicine, and foreign visitors without asking Israel to let them in.
The Netzarim corridor is a new request. Israel thinks it is critical to prevent the Northern Part and the Southern Part of Gaza citizens from free movement in the territory. An equivalent situation in the United States would be if we took Miami, Florida, and cut a 2-mile-wide swath through the middle of it. Then, we let Cuba control it. Cuba would then be in charge of who could move between northern and southern Miami, what goods could be taken in or out of the area, and closed access to the area to the United States altogether.
From that point of view, it would be a non-starter. Hamas and the US thought they had a deal, proposed by Israel they agreed to, only to have Israel add these two conditions later and reject the deal they proposed.
It is good to look at things from the other side's viewpoint.
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