Netanyahu must abandon blind ideology and face reality

Raising billions for the reconstruction of Gaza A major international effort led by the US and Saudi Arabia to raise billions for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Gaza must begin now, even before the war comes to an end. This will signal to the Palestinians that there is hope and that the losses and suffering they endured will end, and create a new, promising, and prosperous future.

Negotiating Saudi-Israeli normalization of relations Once this process begins and to encourage Israel to embrace the above, Saudi Arabia should resume the negotiations over the normalization of relations with Israel. Although at that time, the Saudis were willing to embrace an enhanced autonomous rule for the Palestinians, short of a full-fledged independent state as an intermediate step, after the Israel-Hamas war broke out, the Saudis have now been insisting that there will be no normalization of relations with Israel unless a clear path is established that leads to a two-state solution. Israel, the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan must begin to lay the foundation for peace negotiations that lead to that end.

Turkey and Qatar play a mediating role

It would be an illusion to assume that after Hamas has been militarily crushed in Gaza, it will neither survive as a radical movement nor resort to terror to disrupt any prospective peace process. Turkey and Qatar, who have a special relationship with and can exert pressure on Hamas, should start a dialogue with Hamas to help them internalize the fact that Israeli-Palestinian coexistence is irreversible and there will be no Palestinian state unless the Palestinians, including Hamas, accept Israel's unshakable reality and permanently cease violent resistance. Losing their rule over Gaza and the massive death and destruction they sustained will not be lost on Hamas.

Facing a historic point of departure

There is no neat way to end the Gaza war and satisfy all the players' wants and aspirations. Israel must realize that it can win a thousand battles and still lose the war. The Palestinians can lose every battle and never win a war, but still endure, rise again, and violently resist Israel's occupation and subjugation regardless of how high the price may be and how long it will take. To be sure, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will never be resolved by violence, and peaceful coexistence under a two-state offers the only sustainable solution.

This is the time when leadership matters the most. Netanyahu has a historic opportunity to seize the moment and rise to the occasion if he can only muster the courage. Some will say that what I have suggested above is naïve, as Netanyahu will never change his political stripes and ideological convictions. True, knowing his background and his political position over the years, one will have to agree. But then, in his heart, Netanyahu cares deeply about Israel's future and its place among the nations. The crisis in which he finds himself, which in part is of his own doing, may awaken him to listen to Gantz's and Galant's advice and face reality.

This may well be Netanyahu's last chance not only to redeem himself but also to prevent Israel from becoming a theocracy, a pariah, and an apartheid state, reviled by the community of nations and living by the sword. A state that betrayed its founder's vision-the fulfillment of the Jews' millennia-old dream to be free, grow, and thrive in a state of their own and become a lasting beacon of hope to all people who yearn to be free.