The international community is responsible for the failure. Everyone ignored the Palestinian issue.
The Gaza Strip threatens to sink into a new hell. There is no excuse for Hamas’ cruel attack on Israel. The world rightly insists on Israel’s right to defend itself. However, it is also important to consider how this situation arose and whether there is still a viable path to peace and stability in the region – for both Israelis and Palestinians. (…)
The international community is also responsible for this failure. The EU and the US were too divided and too distracted to seriously commit to a lasting peace process. Everyone found it easier to simply ignore the Palestinian issue. Even before the October 7th attack, almost nothing remained of the progress made in Oslo.
For now, people are practicing blaming each other. Illegal Israeli settlements continued to expand, creating a de facto apartheid system in the West Bank, and the Palestinian Authority lost all credibility. Younger Palestinians are desperate about their future prospects and some have concluded that violence is the only answer.
The recently signed Abraham Accords, which paved the way for the normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, are positive. However, it was a mistake to believe that the Palestinian issue could be set aside.
We will soon see a massive Israeli military operation aimed at destroying Hamas leadership and infrastructure in the densely populated Gaza Strip. But what will happen when this goal is achieved? Will Israel restore direct control over the devastated Gaza Strip? Will the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians be allowed to return to their homes? Or will Israel simply withdraw and risk a new threat to its security developing there? No one knows because there is no real solution. In today’s Middle East, an isolated Gaza Strip will always be a problem, regardless of who tries to govern it.
Peace, another dream
When hostilities end and the dead are counted, top politicians will have an obligation to resume the path towards peace. Is it possible – and what is needed? – start a new peace process, a new 1993, in 2023?
A peace process must begin with the recognition of fundamental principles and be placed in a broader international context that includes great powers such as the US, the EU and now perhaps also China. For now this is just a dream. But without this vision, the best that can be achieved is a delay until the next tragedy occurs. (…)
As tanks roll into Gaza, we can only hope that war mode does not destroy the possibility of future peace. Respect for international humanitarian law is of the utmost importance. This forms the foundation on which a peaceful future can be built. (…)
Translation: Helga Klinger-Groier. The original text has been significantly reduced. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2023. Carl Bildt (*1949) was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1995 and head of the conservative-liberal Moderate Coalition Party.
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