Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu on Friday morning told Reshet Bet Radio that after the war Gaza must remain under full occupation because the existing Arab apparatuses will not be able to control the Strip without creating new terrorist cells there.
“Anyone who today is selling the illusion that Palestinians will manage a proper civilian order in the Gaza Strip does not remember Simchat Torah, and does not remember the children and women and the old man on crutches who participated in the slaughter,” Eliyahu said.
“The two states for two peoples is a delusion,” he added. “I don’t see the existing apparatuses of the Palestinians being able to manage the Strip without creating new terrorist cells there.”
He also said, “I want to go back and establish the settlement enterprise in the Strip – but I’m not sure that now is the time to do it.”
Minister Eliyahu was recently involved in establishing the “Hope Forum,” whose members include the families of hostages who refuse to join the anti-government campaign that was launched by the Brothers in Arms and other leftist groups. The new forum’s two renowned members are Zvika Mor, the father of Eitan who was kidnapped to Gaza from the Nova nature party, and Eliyahu Liebman, head of the Kiryat Arba council whose son Elyakim was kidnapped.
The Hope Forum families believe that the war cabinet must be trusted to conduct the war as best it can, and should not be swayed by other concerns, even the concern for the families’ loved ones.
