Mideast: Mercenaries In The Desert
The war between Israel and Gaza has been on pause for almost one month now. Israel has been withdrawing its troops to the edges of Gaza, and Hamas has let a slow stream of Israeli hostages back to their families. Gazans have begun venturing northward back to their homes after the majority of the enclave gathered in the ‘humanitarian’ zone in the Strip’s south. Everyone in Israel, Palestine, and around the world is holding their breath, hoping for peace to prevail.
Israel has severe and reasonable fears of radical militants returning to Gaza’s north, where they are closest to Israel’s more populous cities. The surge of Hamas militants over the Israeli border on October 7th started the war in the first place. Hamas militants bulldozed fences and air glided in, all to commit mass murder, abuse, and kidnapping.
In order to facilitate the homeward return of civilians while trying to keep militants at bay, Israel demanded checkpoints for all those returning to the north. These checkpoints are primarily there to search vehicles heading north for weaponry. They will be situated on the Netzarim Corridor, which is a stretch of road crossing the entirety of the Strip from East to West in its northern half.
There is no widely accepted authority to be trusted with policing these checkpoints which presents a problem. As per the ceasefire, the IDF must withdraw to the boundaries of Gaza and eventually exit the strip entirely. Thus, it will not be Israel conducting the searches, as it should not be, lest Gaza become, like the West Bank, a forever occupation. Neither is Hamas an option as a recognized terrorist organization and the raison d’etre for the checkpoints in the first place.
So who should be charged with policing the checkpoints? UN Peacekeepers? Israel does not trust them after UNIFIL’s perceived failure to intervene with Hezbollah this year. Moreover, Israel becomes ever more isolated within the UN and, therefore, less trusting of their agencies. Maybe Saudi Arabia? The Gulf States? They do not want to get involved, it seems, even if the Palestinians trusted them, which they do not. So who? European armies? They also have no interest. African armies? Russia? China? America would never allow that.
Nevertheless, the checkpoints are currently in operation. Checking people’s cars, checking IDs, making sure no weapons nor known terrorists reenter the north of Gaza. Who are the men with guns in these photos wearing nondescript black vests and khaki pants? Turns out, Americans, specifically American mercenaries, working for Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions. There are also reports that some Egyptian contractors are present as well, helping to manage the flow of traffic and discernable from their accents.
These two companies have a very faint online presence. UG Solutions was founded in 2023, presumably with this assignment in mind. Safe Reach Solutions has been around for the last decade and is mostly credited with writing the current checkpoint plan. As with most PMCs, their operations are likely classified and the only information about them beyond their one-page websites are testimonials from former employees or coverage by investigative outfits.
The reaction has been mixed, to say the least. Israeli hawks are concerned that the PMCs do not have experience policing checkpoints like this and that the Israeli military is more knowledgeable and better equipped to perform this role. Palestinians, meanwhile, are hesitant to trust Americans as America has been Israel’s single biggest supporter during the current war.
However, it is easy to imagine how negotiators reached this solution through a process of elimination. Despite the big concern of PMCs' historical tendency to operate outside the law or play fast and loose with human rights, compared to Hamas’ and the IDF’s records over the sixteen months, PMCs look pretty cuddly. Anyone is more trustworthy than the two zealous belligerents. At least, this is the argument of analysts in favor of the plan.
There are about ten thousand reasonable concerns about PMCs, especially American PMCs in the Middle East. PMCs are violent, reckless, and beholden to too little authority. Critics of the plan point to their problematic history in Middle Eastern wars. During President Bush's occupation of Iraq, over 100 American PMCs carried out combat, rescue, policing, and humanitarian operations. The hindsight analysis has been overwhelmingly negative.
The American PMC Blackwater has the worst reputation and is a household name associated with American war crimes. PMCs participated in America’s most grievous crimes against humanity in detention centers like Abu Ghraib, in the Nisour Square civilian massacre, etc, the list goes on.
Russia’s Wagner Group, a powerful PMC in Russia associated with white supremacy and criminal action, was a big supporter of Assad’s government in Syria. The Wagner group was also present throughout Africa, from Libya down to Mozambique, training rebels, fighting terrorists, and trading rare minerals. Wagner was known for being willing to carry out the most dangerous and violent tasks, even engaging the American forces in Syria directly. Because they are not part of the Russian military, Russia was willing to send them to do tasks that regular recruits are unwilling or unable to perform, and furthermore, without the accountability to which a sovereign state military is beholden.
The same reasons that make PMCs unpredictable or concerning are the same reasons that they are well-suited to the checkpoints in Gaza. First, the checkpoint is situated in the middle of one of the world's deadliest current conflicts; contractors will be policing an active warzone. Second, state militaries do not want to get involved in such a politically messy and financially costly conflict. Thus, the fearless and adrenaline junky culture of PMCs means they are willing to take on the job, while it allows the governments of the world plausible deniability if something goes wrong.
The perception of private military companies (PMCs) as the tame option illustrates the extreme nature of the Israel-Hamas war of 2023-2024. This conflict has become one of the deadliest for civilians, children, aid workers, and journalists in recent memory. According to the Airwars, Israel’s aerial campaign in the early months of the war was the most devastating air campaign of the 21st century. Both Hamas and Israel blatantly disregard international rules of engagement and humanitarian law, each claiming a righteous moral authority that only they can perceive. The concept of a neutral third party, motivated purely by profit and tasked simply with preventing the flow of weapons to the north, could serve as a logical support to the fragile ceasefire.
