Israel and Palestine: An opportunity to end the cycle of conflict
"Managing the conflict" and the complicity of the international community led to October 7. Only true compromise can lay the foundations for lasting peace, writes Yossi Meckleberg.
All wars and conflicts bring great danger and sometimes a turning point of suffering and destruction. But they also create new opportunities for actors to reassess whether a return to collective violence is in their national interest or whether they should instead rely on paths of peace and reconciliation.
What will be the moment that forces both sides to reassess their positions in the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas?
One of the consequences of the collapse of the status quo between Israel and the Palestinians is that conflict management is a fallacy that has failed time and time again. As a long-term measure, it takes time at most to start the next round of violence.
More than 75 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians have witnessed periodic outbreaks of hostilities and periodic attempts to establish peace based on a two-state solution. Much of this time has been focused on conflict management.
Disbelief in the peace agreement
This shows a lack of belief that a peace agreement can be reached to resolve the differences between the two nations. It also shows that the international collective security mechanisms established after World War II have failed in their mission to resolve conflicts peacefully.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an asymmetric conflict in which the stronger side, Israel, is interested in introducing the concept of the "status quo". This served its interests and allowed it to continue building settlements in the West Bank with the goal of eventual annexation.
By taking control of the Gaza Strip and encouraging a rift between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, Israel guaranteed Palestinian independence.
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