Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister has predicted that the war against the Palestinians in Gaza will end within the next year in a “clear Israeli victory”. Ron Dermer said that achieving victory is key to opening the doors to peace and expanding the Abraham Accords with Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia.
“In the Middle East, peace agreements do not come from weakness, but from victory,” said Dermer. “The road to Riyadh passes through Rafah.” Full Israeli control over the southern Gaza Strip would open the way for Saudi-Israeli normalisation, he insisted.
Dermer made his comments during the annual conference of the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), according to Maariv during which he touched on a number of regional and international issues, most notably the situation in Syria and Lebanon, normalisation agreements with the Gulf states, as well as the future of the war in Gaza.
Dermer said that the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad did not know that its end was near. One of the challenges addressed immediately after his ouster last December was the arms transfer route from Iran into Syria.
Regarding the northern front, Dermer confirmed that he had proposed a ceasefire initiative in Lebanon to ensure that Israel would remain in a position of control and prevent Hezbollah from restarting the fighting in the future. He emphasised that his country was determined to impose a new strategic reality in the northern region.
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