BICOM

Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz yesterday outlined some of the regional threats facing Israel and emphasised the importance of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, assessing that they would likely eventually make progress.

Gantz, who will stand down from his position later this month, was speaking at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, at a conference in memory of former-IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak. He said “as someone still in uniform, I cannot go into this issue [peace talks], but it is crucial for us.” Gantz added, “I assume that a way will be found to move forward with it. But on this topic, time will tell.”

Gantz also criticised Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas for his decision to apply to the International Criminal Court and other international bodies. He said that such action “holds some risk that responsibility for dealing with the matter will be shifted” towards the international community and that Abbas was taking the attitude that “whatever will happen will happen.”

Gantz also thoroughly rejected the idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in any way connected to the rise of ISIS and criticised those who use the Palestinian issue to justify violence in the region, calling it a “strategic excuse.” He said, “There is no connection, no connection between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the struggle that we are seeing in Iraq and Syria.”

Instead, said Gantz, the Middle East is divided into three main camps. “In the first camp there is the radical Sunni global Jihad, which includes a competition between the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda,” and that the second camp includes the likes of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, while the third camp “is composed of the radical countries – Syria, Iran and Lebanon.” Placing the situation in a long-term context, Gantz explained, “We are witnessing an immense conflict between the various forces, which will last quite a while. We won’t be able to ignore it.”