Here is today’s DeepDive.
And negotiations to form a unity government are back underway in Israel. Meanwhile Turkey sends medical equipment to Israel and Egypt briefly reopens its border with Gaza. All this and more…
The Two-State Devolution (Foreign Affairs)
On the viability of a two-state solution, a piece of international relations debate between Michael S Doran who praises the realpolitik of Trump’s peace plan and Tarek Osman who suggests: “successful societies should not base their security doctrines on their presumed perpetual ability to control others. In Israel, it took an experienced soldier with a strategic vision, Yitzhak Rabin, to see this. His insight was that Israel cannot—and does not want to—permanently control a large population that seeks independence. By the time he became Israel’s prime minister for a second term, in 1992, Rabin saw that Israel’s long-term security required a viable Palestinian state, albeit one that would pose no threat to Israel.”
Egypt Opens Gaza Border for Returnees Stranded by Outbreak (New York Times / Associated Press)
Egypt reopened its border crossing on Monday with the Gaza Strip after nearly three weeks, allowing hundreds of Palestinians stranded by the coronavirus pandemic to return home.
Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, has coordinated the timing of Rafah crossing’s one-way reopening with Egypt to coincide with the completion of 1,000 rooms to place the returnees into mandatory quarantine.
The arrivals were taken into buses, without their luggage, under police escort into the quarantine centers. Sick returnees would be placed in hospitals and the old at hotels. Security forces and medics waited for the arrival in full protection clothes.
Netanyahu, Gantz resume talks in effort to finalize deal (Jerusalem Post)
Sources in the Likud negotiating team told The Jerusalem Post earlier Monday evening that "the gaps between the two sides have narrowed but disputes remain.”
Gantz's mandate to form a government ended at midnight, so Netanyahu and Gantz jointly asked President Reuven Rivlin for two additional days. Rivlin approved the request and technically extended Gantz's mandate to Wednesday night at midnight.
Both Netanyahu and Gantz called for the formation of a government to fight the coronavirus earlier Monday night.
Israel and Turkey, first signs of warming up? (Al Monitor)
Reports on April 12 stated that Turkey has officially confirmed it will supply Israel with medical equipment, such as face masks, protective suits and sterile gloves, to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The equipment is expected to be shipped to Israel in the coming days, perhaps already on April 16, together with a similar shipment of medical equipment destined for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.
Turkish sources described the double shipment to Israel and the PA as a humanitarian gesture. But a source in Israel’s Foreign Ministry told Al-Monitor that the transfer of medical equipment from Turkey was commercial in nature and advanced by private actors. On the other hand, the Turkish confirmation on April 12 made it clear that the transfer of these masks and gloves was indeed sanctioned by the office of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Palestine DeepDive