Israel chasing an impossible dream in Gaza

A zombie dream has taken over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, or at least the extreme right part of it, which is the tail that wags the rest.

- Gwynne Dyer

It is the dream that was once called "transfer" and is now known as “relocation”. In its broadest form it includes the expulsion of all Arabs from the lands now controlled by Israel.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's current finance minister, is the most articulate exponent of this dream, and he sees the war in Gaza as a heaven-sent opportunity to make it real.

In February he threatened to bring down the coalition if the prime minister did not break the cease fire and stop all food, fuel, water and humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Palestinians should see only “fire and brimstone” from Israel until the Strip was completely occupied, and its population expelled. Mr Netanyahu complied.

And in May he hailed the new Israeli ground offensive to seize control of all of Gaza, saying that in six months Gaza would be “totally destroyed”. The Palestinians there would be “despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”

A thoroughly nasty man, then, and so are a number of his cabinet colleagues, but they are not being realistic. All that is very unlikely to happen.