Arriving at the spacious offices of the Institute for Structural Reforms at Tel Aviv’s Museum Tower, it is impossible to overlook Hostages Square just around the corner, where a bright red display keeps track of the days, minutes, and seconds of their continued captivity.
The reason for my visit was to meet with ISR president Shraga F. Biran to discuss his ideas for a solution to the war in Gaza. In his new book, Biran cries the cry of the hostages, saying that “there is no greater crime than being able to stop the Binding of Isaac and not doing so,” a reference to the biblical story of Abraham binding his beloved son to offer him as a sacrifice (Genesis ch. 22).
Biran is also the founder of one of Israel’s leading law firms, the eponymously named S. Biran & Co, and the former Chairman of Israel’s National Task Force on Urban Renewal. He has shared his social, economic, and political ideas in public and at academic forums over the past several decades and has written numerous books, including one published in 2011 called Opportunism: How to Change the World – One Idea at a Time, which is concerned with the economic implications of our new era, and was translated into Chinese.
Biran’s latest book, Liberating Gaza – Breaking the Cycle of Poverty, Fundamentalism, and Terror (Yedioth Books), written with Tal Saar, was recently published in English and will be released in Hebrew, French and Arabic over the next several weeks.
The author analyzes how Hamas took control over Gaza, the deep connections between poverty, fundamentalism, and terrorism – and how, in his view, Gaza can be freed from the Hamas regime of terror while also saving Israel from the threat of Hamas in the South and Hezbollah in the North.
In Biran’s view, only the world’s two great powers – the United States and China – have the ability and the wherewithal to partner together to create a solution that will free Gazans from Hamas rule and provide safety for Israel’s citizens.
Recently, The Jerusalem Post met with Biran to gain a better understanding of the principles put forth in his new book. Biran, casually dressed in an open-collar shirt and jeans, displayed the energy and enthusiasm of a man far younger than his 91 years, striding about the conference room and frequently pounding on the table to emphasize his points.
Following is a summary of our wide-ranging discussion.
How is China involved in the Middle East, and what interest does it have in ending the Swords of Iron War?
China’s involvement in Middle East stability stems from its extensive economic interests in the region. In 2013, China embarked on its Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy in which it has invested more than a trillion dollars.
Most of China’s energy resources are imported from Saudi Arabia. In addition, China’s interests in the region have to do with the smooth movement of goods along the global trade routes of the Belt and Road Initiative, including the Pakistan Corridor, the initiative’s impact on development having been compared with that of the Marshall Plan. It is therefore in China’s economic interest for the war to end.
Domestic and transnational Islamist terrorism represents a growing concern for China, which has a Muslim population of about 25 million. Since 9/11, China has been committed to fighting “the three evils” of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. Therefore, the eradication of Islamist terrorism is a shared interest of the two great powers. As we elaborate in our book, official Chinese documents outline the solution to the problem of terrorism by denying its breeding ground: poverty.
The Chinese interest and commitment to the region have led it to become involved in bilateral agreements and peace talks throughout the Middle East. For example, China recently pushed for an end to the Saudi Arabian-Iran proxy war in Yemen after years of fighting. Beijing thus proved it has critical leverage with Iran, stemming from the latter’s dependency on China, which is not only economic. The Chinese officially expect and hope for a regime change in Iran, stressing that the Islamic Republic’s fundamentalist leadership is aging and that the Iranian people prefer reforms over revolution.
Since the first days after October 7 and until today, China has been in continuous dialogue with various Arab countries to bring an end to the war and has been officially and repeatedly calling for an international peace conference “to promote the early resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel.”
How should the conflict in Gaza be concluded?
First and foremost, Israel must defeat Hamas. However, this crucial task must not be completed by military force alone. Military efforts should be combined with political efforts for the permanent eradication of Hamas. Anticipating the liberation of Gaza from Hamas control, a new vision for Gaza should be laid out, and a practical plan for its rehabilitation and reconstruction is essential. The plan must be devised and carried out by an international task force consisting of several major regional and global stakeholders. The US must play a central role in this joint task force; hopefully, China will join as well.
The main task of the task force would be the establishment of an emergency government dedicated to reconstruction, rejuvenation, and the enhancement of global investments to bolster economic stability in Gaza. A large part of this can be based on Gaza’s natural resources, which make it a distinct geopolitical region, offering business opportunities for economic progress and the improvement of the region and its people.
The flow of investments into Gaza should be supervised by elaborated mechanisms and conditioned on the eradication of terrorism and the success of deradicalization efforts.
Once Hamas has been defeated, who should govern Gaza?
An emergency interim government should govern the Gaza Strip until it is rehabilitated, establishing a completely new order. This emergency government should not rely on philanthropy, but instead create investment opportunities and ensure the proficient utilization of Gaza’s resources for the sake of its rehabilitation. Moreover, it must provide security, reduce violent conflicts, safeguard human rights, offer basic services, curb corruption, address emergencies, and tackle poverty, thereby [also attacking] fundamentalism.
After a sufficient amount of time has passed and the region has been demilitarized, “de-Hamasified,” and cleansed from fundamentalism and poverty, this interim government could be gradually succeeded by the Palestinian Authority.
Once Hamas has been defeated, how can the civilian population of Gaza be de-radicalized?
Deradicalization can be accomplished. After World War II, there were millions of Nazis, who had created the worst cruelty and barbarism. In a matter of several years, denazification brought Nazism to an end, along with the Marshall Plan, which aided in the economic recovery of Europe after the war. No one thought it would work, but slowly, the generation that grew up saw its future not in wars or destruction, but in a genuine [peaceful and constructive] future. The same can be done with the population of Gaza.
Wherever and whenever it mushrooms, terrorism can be defeated. It should be said that terrorists represent only a minor fraction of the Muslim population. There are two billion Muslims in the world; of them, only about 15% are Arab. However, the number of Muslim terrorist leaders is assumed to be less than 1,000 worldwide. Despite their small number, these leaders have been recruiting soldiers and bolstering their power, murdering about 145,000 people worldwide in the last two decades.
What is the unique message that President Joe Biden has expressed that can help end the conflict?
For many years, Biden has been developing his doctrine, which states that winning the global war on terrorism depends on economic development and eradication of poverty.
In the short period before and after Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (2004-2005), then-senator Biden visited prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert to deliver a message of political and economic support from the United States to help advance the disengagement and the socio-economic solution to the problem of Gaza.
According to the Biden Doctrine, if terrorism is driven by poverty, military solutions alone cannot win the global war on terror. Victory cannot be achieved without the cooperation and support of the Gazan population, even if it is only partial.
How did Hamas manage to take control of and retain power in Gaza?
Poverty in Gaza has been a breeding ground for terrorism on a collective, household, and individual basis. Not only does Hamas do nothing to alleviate poverty in Gaza, which is one of the two poorest areas in the world, but it actively works to maintain these conditions since its rise to power.
Hamas sees poverty as “capital” to be exchanged for billions of dollars in foreign aid and the constant attention of the international community to the Palestinian question.
On the eve of the war, Gaza suffered a demographic disaster, with inadequate housing, extreme density, extremely low wages, and skyrocketing poverty and unemployment rates. This state of deprivation fueled the envy and despair of Gazans, feelings that were harvested by Hamas to bolster its popular support and expand its military wing.
Concurrently, Hamas is one of the wealthiest terror organizations in the world, with annual income revenues estimated between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion, with funding unsupervised and underreported by the World Bank and other international organizations. The Israeli government has been complicit in the funding of Hamas through the Palestinian Authority and Qatar.
The eradication of poverty in Gaza means the eradication of Hamas.
You have discussed the rehabilitation of Gaza, but what can be done for Israel’s Western Negev?
A few days after October 7, our institute assembled a team of architects and experts to develop a comprehensive plan for the development of the “new Western Negev,” in which a new metropolitan area would be established, comprised of three cities and 100 kibbutzim and moshavim. The plan is based on rural-urban integration and features cutting-edge planning methods, holding a promise for the transformation of Israel’s southern and northern peripheries based on socio-economic reforms.
Why did you write this book?
When you see death and suffering, and you know that it can be prevented, it is impossible to be silent, because that serves the interests of terror. We have to put the truth on the world’s table and expose the dance of jihad, which is covered with lies and deceit. The populace of Gaza is praying to be liberated, and I vowed never to forget the forgotten.