Why is Israel demanding control over 2 Gaza corridors in the cease-fire talks? [View all]

[moniss]

That is the headline for an article from WTOP News. The article notes the commonly known Philadelphi Corridor along the southern border of Gaza and Egypt but it also gives a fairly decent description of the Netzarim Corridor which is usually mentioned in the media but with little background to it. That was bulldozed and cleared affter 10/7 across the entire nearly 4 mile width of Gaza at that point stretching from the Israeli border all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. Israel claimed it needs this for military supplies and as a checkpoint for "screening" Palestinians moving from south to north and vice-versa. But it should be noted that they bulldozed this "corridor" nearly 2 and 1/2 miles wide. That's one hell of width for a "checkpoint". But could there be more at play here?

A few months ago I posted about the long standing proposal for the "Ben Gurion Canal" which would connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea across the Negev etc. and be a counter to the Suez Canal. This has been a cherished dream of the radical right in Israel for many decades and has prompted renewed discussion in Israel since the events of 10/7. Here is the WTOP report and some links about the Ben Gurion Canal. Whether this "corridor" would be in the right location or not remains to be seen but 2 and 1/2 miles of width sure sounds like a good chunk of land for a 2 way canal and associated infrastructure on that end of it. The MSN link has a map showing the "original route" as thought which stays in Israel but note that if you instead cut across Gaza you can save many miles and a huge amount of costs both in initial construction and in future operation. The link to eurasia review shows an alternate route but again note the much shortened possibility if you go across Gaza. The link to the Times of Israel blog article goes further and talks about how the world needs to "decouple" from the Suez Canal. What it doesn't point out is that Egypt has been spending a huge amount of money expanding the Suez capabilities and doubling the throughput capacity. Maybe the "decoupling" is more political in motivation than one of economic necessity.

Since Netanyahu is saying Israel is going to remain in the corridors no matter what then is the "dream" about to get legs and be sold to the Palestinians as some sort of financial "benefit" to them? Sort of like how American city neighborhoods got carved up and decimated by Interstate construction under the guise of how it would be a "windfall" for poorer neighborhoods when in actuality it was really all for the benefit of others at the expense of disrupting the people in the community and tearing down what they had and displacing them.

https://wtop.com/world/2024/08/why-is-israel-demanding-control-over-2-gaza-corridors-in-the-cease-fire-talks/
https://www.newarab.com/news/what-israels-ben-gurion-canal-plan-and-why-gaza-matters
https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/05/12/the-ben-gurion-canal-project/
https://www.containerlift.co.uk/news/the-ben-gurion-canal-israels-strategic-maritime-vision/
https://www.eurasiareview.com/17112023-the-ben-gurion-canal-israels-potential-revolutionary-alternative-to-suez-analysis/
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-ben-gurion-canal-vision-amidst-upheaval/