The ongoing conflict in Gaza is a deepening tragedy that has left Palestinians and Israelis grappling with the question of whether the war will lead to a better future. The war has been described as "endless, deepening tragedy… hell on earth," with Palestinians "pleading for safety" and the hostages taken by Hamas and their families suffering. War is a cruel furnace that puts humans through terrible agonies, but its heat can produce impossible changes.
The war in Gaza has been compared to the Holocaust in Western Europe after World War Two, where old enemies who had killed each other for centuries chose peace. The war in Gaza may shock Israelis and Palestinians into ending their century of conflict over the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
A woman wracked by grief, sitting next to the body of her husband, Muhammad Abu Shaar, has been watching a video of her grief and hoping that the power of her suffering will bring him back. Yonatan Zeigen, a Palestinian activist in Tel Aviv, believes that the war could produce a chance for Israelis and Palestinians to lead better and safer lives. He believes that the war could create two opportunities: either make it deeper and worse or make it a chance to solve the conflict and solve the occupation, to solve apartheid, and to make a living together possible because the security solution failed.
Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist in Hebron, believes that the war could produce a chance for Israelis and Palestinians to lead better and safer lives. She believes that the war could create two opportunities: either we choose to make it deeper and worse, or we make it a chance to solve the conflict and solve the occupation, to solve the apartheid, and to make a living together possible because the security solution failed.
The prospects for peace in Gaza are uncertain, as all wars in and around Gaza since Hamas seized control there in 2007 have ended the same way, with a ceasefire deal. The killing and destruction in this war are of such a different order that no one can pretend there is any normality to restore. This time, it must be different, and that much is accepted by Palestinians and Israelis and the outside powers that matter the most.
The Israeli government is heading for a diplomatic row with the United States, its most important ally, about what happens after the ceasefire. President Joe Biden is exasperated by Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza. Still, he continues to support Israel by deploying aircraft carriers, sending planeloads of weapons, and vetoing ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council. In return, Biden wants Israel to agree that the only way forward is reviving talks to establish an independent Palestinian state.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not said much about how Gaza would be governed if and when he declares victory over Hamas, but he has rejected Joe Biden's plan. One constant in Netanyahu's long political career has been opposition to the independent Palestinian state that Oslo tried and failed to produce. Total victory and the unconditional surrender of anyone left alive in Hamas remain Israel's objectives. Annihilating Hamas, Mr. Netanyahu believes, is the only way to rescue the hostages.
The ongoing conflict in Gaza presents both opportunities and challenges for both sides. While the war may seem far off now, it is clear that it will eventually lead to a better future for both sides.
Israeli domestic politics play a significant role in President Netanyahu's calculations, as opinion polls suggest that many Israelis blame him for the intelligence and security failures that allowed Hamas to break into Israel with such force. By doubling down on his opposition to Palestinian self-determination, Netanyahu is trying to regain the trust of the right-wing Jewish nationalists who support his government.
Yonatan Zeigen, the son of the slain peace campaigner Vivian Silver, believes that the war is a cause in itself of revenge. He senses a new opportunity to restore peace on Israel's political agenda. Peace campaigners were prominent in Israel until they were discredited as an armed Palestinian uprising erupted after the Oslo process collapsed in 2000. Now, Yonatan hopes peace with the Palestinians is inching its way back.
Palestinian activist Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist in Hebron, tells me that life there has been much more complicated for Palestinians since 7 October. More restrictions, violence, and intimidation have made life there more difficult for Palestinians. Issa got into a verbal spat with a group of Israeli soldiers while walking with him through the centre of Hebron.
A chance for a peaceful future, for an independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel that the Americans, the British, and many other countries say they want, will not emerge without sustained diplomatic and political will and determination. The old Oslo format of negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis, brokered by the Americans, failed. If there is a next time, one idea mentioned by senior Western diplomats is to make Palestinian independence a crucial part of a broader package of change in the Middle East.
A blueprint already exists for this idea, which would not happen without new Israeli and Palestinian leaders who believed in the project. The Americans could mediate, but they would have to be even-handed. Both sides must be prepared to make painful compromises on cherished beliefs, especially concerning territory. Political storms would break over leaders prepared to take risks for peace.
Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist in 1995 when he tried to make peace with the Palestinians. An Islamist extremist killed Egypt's President Anwar Sadat because he made peace with Israel. The war in Gaza would have to end as soon as possible. If it spreads, nightmare scenarios include desperate Palestinians breaching the Egyptian border as Israeli tanks close in and the escalation into a full-scale war.
This article is republished from BBC News. Click here to read the original article.
