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Gibson Nyikadzino in TEL AVIV, Israel

A leading Israeli academic yesterday told visiting African journalists here that the Israeli-Hamas conflict that has led to enormous infrastructure destruction and civilian deaths primarily in the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip has become an ideological war that is not ending anytime soon despite ongoing ceasefire efforts.

Dr Michael Milshtein from Tel Aviv University said both Israeli and Palestinian political leaders should now start working on plans to change the consciousness of their people to enable peaceful co-existence on behalf of future generations.

He said current statistics on the changing Palestinian demography are key to prioritise peace and eliminate the danger of the radicalisation of young Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

He said the goal by the Israeli government to dismantle Hamas will not be realistically achieved.

“Hamas has a membership of over 100 thousand people, and about 30 000 members of their Al-Qassam brigade. We understand Hamas is powerful and will be in existence for a long time.

“It has succeeded in undermining the basic layers of Israeli society because people are today shocked over what happened on October 7. Co-existence between Israeli and Palestinian citizens is however key for future generations because with Hamas, it is an ideological organisation and this conflict is not going to end.”

Dr Milshtein said the radicalisation of young Gazans under Hamas is likely to change any prospects of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation

According to statistics by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Gaza’s population is young, with 70 percent of people under the age of 29, while another 70 percent of the
unemployed are between 20 to 24 years old.

“The current Israeli and Palestinian political leaders have failed to address the situation. Netanyahu only wants to use the military because he has a political problem with his coalition partners. On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah movement is now very weak, it is no longer needed by Palestinians. Hamas is different from Fatah because with the latter Israel shares some issues of co-existence while Hamas wants the total annihilation of the state of Israel.

“Political leaders with capacity now need to move in and make serious plans to reduce the conflict between the two peoples, change their people’s consciousness, change university curriculum and lecturers so that the young ones can later live in an environment of peace.

“All people need to be educated on peace. In Israel, they also need to start dealing with the issue of incitement against Palestinians. Most Israelis do not want what is happening in the state. Unfortunately, the current leaders cannot address these issues,” added Dr Milshtein.

He said without prospects of peace, possible scenarios facing Israel in dealing with Hamas are horrible.

“Israel has options to occupy Gaza; or enter Gaza and inflict damage, destroy Hamas and create a vacuum; and to ensure the return of the Palestinian Authority. All these are horrible options,” he said.