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Representatives of major Palestinian clans and tribes in Gaza. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Israel seeks to employ a post-war divide-and-rule strategy in the Gaza Strip, a plan rejected by a coalition of Palestinian tribes.

A coalition of Palestinian tribes has rejected any attempts by Israel to establish clan-based rule in the Gaza Strip.

“Palestinian tribes, clans and families are not an alternative to any Palestinian political system,” the coalition said in a statement on Sunday.

Instead, it is “an authentic part … of the Palestinian national component, supporting the resistance” as well as the Palestinian people “in the face of” the Israeli occupation.

The coalition stressed that “national unity is the only way to preserve the existence of this (Palestinian) people and this country.”

It affirmed “the necessity of enhancing national participation in making national decisions through national institutions, and the necessity of conducting presidential, legislative, and National Council elections.”

In addition, it pointed out the necessity of “elevating the value of the homeland above the value of party, organization, movement, or any regional or sectarian group.”

Israel has been seeking to create an administration to replace the ruling Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas in the besieged enclave.

Split into Districts

The Israeli public broadcaster, KAN, reported in January that the plan was devised by the Shin Bet internal security service and the Israeli military.

The proposed plan stipulates that Gaza will be split into districts, and each tribe will control a designated area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly said before that he will not allow the Palestinian Authority, which controls the occupied West Bank, to have any role in ruling Gaza in the post-war period.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s government media office, said international parties had held 12 meetings with Palestinian tribal chieftains as part of their efforts to create a new administration to run Gaza, according to a report by the Anadolu news agency.

“All tribes rejected all Israeli occupation plots to undermine the Palestinian home front,” he said in a statement.

Over 31,00 Killed

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 31,045 Palestinians have been killed, and 72,654 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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