Samer Sinijlawi’s vision for Gaza deserves serious skepticism - opinion

It’s always advisable to carefully read the fine print of a contract before signing it because the obscured details might reveal a lot more than meets the eye.

However, after a series of miscalculations and grave mistakes, Israel needs to get it right this time because we cannot afford a future surprise attack to succeed where all others have failed.

Toward that effort, Sinijlawi says, a governmental cabinet will be “composed of independent Gazan professionals who are economists, educators, and engineers.”

It would be interesting to know where these Gazan pillars of society were under the Hamas regime. Why are they suddenly emerging now, cast as serious and trustworthy men who can effect needed change?

But how does he intend to pull that off?

In his acknowledgment that a “stable, functional Gaza, governed by professionals rather than armed movements, is a cornerstone of regional stability and Israeli-Palestinian de-escalation,” there is hope for Sinijlawi’s vision of a bright tomorrow, given his aspiration to the ideals rejected by the previous terrorist government.

In fact, he even speaks of the need for transparency and performance as opposed to political allegiance or force. Dare we be optimistic?

In all this, Sinijlawi cites the one missing element to success, “a credible, empowered Palestinian representative capable of engaging Israel directly and anchoring this process in political legitimacy and lived reality.” Is he offering himself up as such an individual? Although he doesn’t come right out and say so, it’s almost impossible to imagine that he is referring to someone else.

Here is where he begins to outline the crucial components needed to garner change, which include dignity, moral recognition, and agency.

Of course, none of those things were present under Hamas rule because their iron-fisted control was intended to erase all human freedoms.

Unlike Hamas, Sinijlawi maintains that without those ideals, there can be no chance of coexistence. And while he speaks of the need for free movement, less constraints, and economic opportunity, we can only wonder what he means by that.

Would he expect the end of closed borders with Israel? Is he naive enough to believe that the last two years can be pushed aside as if they never happened, wiping the slate clean for a new era of peaceful coexistence?

That is unclear, and therefore, we are left to our imagination, uncertain of how his vision would play out on a daily basis.

Sinijlawi knows that controlling others is a bad thing. And yet while he seems to be saying all the right words, he never quite acknowledges the role Gazans have played over the last 20 years.

Gazans were more than complicit in what was being planned. They built the tunnels. They sent their pre-teen sons to be trained for warfare, knowing all the while that it was a death sentence for them.

They shared secret information with Hamas, giving them details of kibbutz residents and other facts which made it easy for them to attack specific homes and strategic locations once they invaded on October 7.

How does Sinijlawi expect to take these same heartless individuals and inject them with morality, dignity, and agency when they have no clue what those words mean or how important those qualities are?

So, while he speaks of asymmetry defined as a lack of equality, he might want to begin by addressing the enormous gap in ethos, principles, and humanity between Israelis and Gazans. Because without that recognition, Sinijlawi will simply be fighting a losing battle in his quest to bring a better life to his people.

A better life begins with their true repentance for assuming the traits of demons, whose view of the cheapness of life allows for the desired wholesale killing of an entire race. That is the first order of business to which he must attend if he is to make any headway towards his goal of coexistence.

Yes, rebuilding infrastructure is important, but it can’t be done without first rebuilding the infrastructure of the soul, and, with that, he will have his hands full!

Sinijlawi is quite right in saying that “a senior Palestinian representative for reconciliation and regional cooperation is not optional. It is indispensable.”

However, that person must be committed to restoring his people and remaking them back into the divine image that they were meant to reflect.

It seems impossible, but if he believes he is up to the task, he might start by assuming the responsibility for a troubled population that now needs to prove their remorse so that the rest of us can count them as worthy fellow partakers of the human race.

Accountability and true reform must be the first steps to create some sense of good will, but until then, the new Gaza Plan, sadly, seems doomed to failure even before it gets off the ground.