Comments by "Sandy Tatham" (@sandytatham3592) on "GAZA | Kan het herbouwd worden?" video.

"Steps will also be needed to construct a new political system and build peace". You are up against an ideology which won't disappear easily. This is from a Gaza engineer who contacted me on Instagram asking for money and help to migrate to Australia. He doesn't support Hamas, but says: "It seems that you have forgotten that Palestine is our land and every individual is required to defend it, and this is not only a national duty, but a religious and ideological duty that every Muslim in every country must have."
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@JamesKerLindsay : I appreciate your reply and acknowledge your personal experience, but my Muslim engineer from Gaza has told his Instagram followers that he did have a lovely home (he has posted many photos), a family (he has a sweet daughter whom he calls Lulu) and a good job, but he still wants to annihilate Israel. And this is from an article dated October 16 in The Guardian: "Recruits to Islamic militant groups are likely to be well educated and relatively wealthy, with those aspiring to be suicide bombers among the best off, a study by the World Bank has found."
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Israel should extend sovereignty over Gaza and offer "residence status" to those Gazans who accept it. That would give them full Israeli civil rights (education, health, economic and employment opportunities, security, autonomy to vote for their own civil leaders) but not national voting rights in Israel. A pathway to full citizenship can come later, as is the case for East Jerusalem Arabs. Israel should also support the resettlement of those in Gaza who wish to leave, either through UNHCR or by their own means. Disband UNRWA and all NGOs who perpetuate the delusional 'refugee status' of Palestinians. Last year I met a lovely Gaza man in Cairo who was in the process of relocating his whole family to Turkey because life under Hamas was impossible. His preference would be to stay and get citizenship in Israel but, sadly, that wasn't possible at this time.
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@JSK010 : I thought that was the case.Thank you.
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@JamesKerLindsay : Many thanks, James. I'll look at your link later. My Palestinian man was definitely inside Gaza. He was very active in uploading photos and videos of himself, some family members, and the surrounding areas that he was moving to and the problems they faced. His Instagram account has now been deactivated so I'm worried about him. Hopefully he raised enough money to pay the bribe to the Egyptian border police at Rafah to get his family out.
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I agree. But how about the option of Israel extending sovereignty over Gaza and offering the Arab occupants "residence status" of Israel? That would give them equal civil rights, and autonomy to continue living in their own clan structure, but NOT national voting rights. Then open the border with Egypt so those who want to leave can do so.
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@vipermad358 : Millions of people live in other countries on "residence visas" because that country gives them benefits that other countries don't give them. Benefits such as good employment opportunities, health services, education for their children, rule of law and security. You get #equal civil rights but not national voting rights. There's usually a pathway to full citizenship after you've proved you would be a good citizen. East Jerusalem Arabs have this status, and the growing trend is for them to apply for full citizenship of Israel. Why are you holding Israel to a different standard than other countries?
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