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It all depends on a Gazan #HamasSurrenderNOW opposition party stepping forward to lead the Gazans in an entirely new direction. Not only would they have to admit defeat in this 100-year war for Muslim supremacy and abandon their Nakba victimhood narrative, they would also have to leave Palestinian unity behind to go with the UAE. Not that there are no good reasons for that, Gaza has always been different from the rest of Palestine as far as I know. So yes, it is a good idea that would take Gaza out of the 'axis of resistance'. But the choice must be with the Gazans and with nobody else if the new emirate is there to stay.

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agreed ... i don't think the proposal is that this be forced upon the Gazans, though the argument is that many Gazans might actually welcome the proposal ....

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I'm sure you're right, but the problem with the Palestinians often is that they miss the opportunity to demonstrate some agency when it counts, and then Israel ends up acting one-sidedly for lack of an alternative. There was this idea of using Gazan clan leaders to run local governments (plural), and they may well be the only partners on offer with come real political capabilities, but are they trustworthy? This war in Gaza is such a crucial moment, I believe, because it must offer a real opportunity for an opposition party to take hold. But if there are no opposition people preparing themselves in earnest by organising the party, the intrigues will go as they usually go and Mohammad Dahlan will impose himself as the 'Emir of Gaza' maybe even with UAE complicity. - I still have to read Hillel Cohen, Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948 (2008) - because I've never been able to find out much about political dealings between the early Zionists and Palestinian political figures under the British Mandate. And the same for today: do all these Israeli pro-Palestinian progressives so willing to criticise their own right-wing governments actually engage with the Palestinians themselves and help them organise an opposition against their political thugs with the guns? It would be really dangerous, of course, no doubt about that.

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It sounds intriguing... But what then of the West Bank and Jerusalem?

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The Palestinians went to Jordan, and made a mess there. They were then expelled to Lebanon, and made a mess there. There's a reason Egypt, Syria and Jordan all refuse to take them now.

I really can't see UAE taking them on.

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