Who Will Govern Postwar Gaza? Four Competing Models Are Emerging.

Through nearly 16 months of war in Gaza, politicians and analysts debated competing proposals for the territory’s postwar governance, but no clear direction emerged while the fighting continued.Now, as a fragile cease-fire holds and as Israel and Hamas prepare for negotiations to extend the truce, four rival models for Gaza’s future have begun to take shape.Hamas, weakened but unbowed, still controls most of the territory and is trying to entrench that authority.Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel is meant to withdraw gradually from Gaza, but its troops still occupy key parts of it.

Right-wing Israeli leaders want their forces to expand that control, even if it means restarting the war.A group of foreign security contractors offers another model.At Israel’s invitation, they are running a checkpoint on a crucial thoroughfare in northern Gaza, screening vehicles for weapons.

Some Israeli officials say that activity could develop into international stewardship of a much wider area, involving Arab states instead of private contractors.And in the south, representatives of the Palestinian Authority began over the weekend to staff a border crossing with Egypt, working with European security officials.The authority, which lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, hopes that it could, in time, replicate those efforts across the entire territory....