{"id":125079,"date":"2025-08-07T01:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T01:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125079\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T01:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T01:36:14","slug":"what-could-bring-peace-history-provides-one-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125079\/","title":{"rendered":"What could bring peace? History provides one answer."},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for the Slatest<\/a> to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.<\/p>\n

The war in Gaza, now nearly two years old, is said to be<\/a> at a crossroads<\/a>, but is it really? Israel has recently achieved major geopolitical victories in the region, having pummeled Iran\u2019s nuclear sites and air defenses, all but destroyed the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, witnessed the downfall of Assad\u2019s regime in Syria, and decimated Hamas\u2019 military in Gaza itself.<\/p>\n

Under a different leader, this new strength might have paved the way for a durable ceasefire in Gaza, possibly a grand bargain with Saudi Arabia (and other regional powers that hadn\u2019t already signed on to the Abraham Accords), and a restoration of Israel\u2019s standing in the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

But under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel keeps fighting\u2014not only bombing civilian targets but shooting Gazan Palestinians while they\u2019re lined up at food banks, many of them visibly starving, to the point that even several<\/a> friends<\/a> of Israel<\/a> are charging its government with genocide<\/a> (a word that many of them had resisted and, in some cases, rebutted until recently). And Hamas keeps fighting as well; its leaders have never cared about the fate of Gazan civilians, and Israel\u2019s criminally excessive use of force is playing into their hands.<\/p>\n

A recent article in the New York Times<\/a> reported the many times Netanyahu has deliberately prolonged the war and evaded opportunities for peace in order to protect his own political power. Far-right-wing factions in his coalition government threatened to resign if he so much as considered a serious prolonged ceasefire; this would have sparked new elections, which he might have lost, which in turn would leave him vulnerable to pending criminal charges of corruption.<\/p>\n

But this is an incomplete explanation for the continued fighting. The fact is, Israel and Hamas have vital interests in this war, and the peace proposals offered by each\u2014whether or not sincerely\u2014have threatened the interests of the other.<\/p>\n

At various points in the war, Netanyahu offered or ceded to ceasefires and exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners\u2014but he always insisted on Israel\u2019s right to resume the fighting after all the hostages were freed. Hamas\u2019 leaders have insisted that any such ceasefire be permanent; otherwise, they feared (correctly) that Israel would intensify its military campaign after the last hostage was released.<\/p>\n

Another conflict of interest: Israel insists (quite rightly) that Hamas must disarm and be stripped of all political power as part of any peace plan; Hamas (understandably) wants to retain power.<\/p>\n

These interests are both rational and irreconcilable, meaning that the war is likely to continue, unless one side is defeated or both sides are pressured to stop fighting. Netanyahu and his advisers want to see Hamas defeated; Hamas\u2019 leaders hope that Israel\u2019s brutality will build international support for boycotts and other forms of pressure against Israel.<\/p>\n

Yes, Netanyahu\u2019s desire to press on is, in part, political and personal. But Ethan Bronner<\/a>, Jerusalem bureau chief for Bloomberg News (and one of the most experienced American reporters in the Middle East), says it\u2019s a mistake to place the blame entirely on the prime minister. Bronner writes that not just Netanyahu but Israel\u2019s entire government \u201cbelieves deep in its bones that if it does not destroy and eliminate Hamas as a ruling military force in Gaza, that it will have failed its people.\u201d This is seen as \u201can existential challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shock of Hamas\u2019 invasion on Oct. 7, 2023\u2014an assault across Israel\u2019s border that killed about 1,200 Jews, more than had been killed in a single day since the Holocaust\u2014continues to traumatize many Israelis. As a percentage of the country\u2019s population, it would be as if 45,000 Americans had been slaughtered in one fell swoop. Moreover, the killings were committed by an empowered militia that had vowed<\/a>, as part of its charter, to kill or expel all Jews. The fact that Israel\u2019s retaliation, even in the early stages of the war, triggered massive protests in the West\u2014against not Hamas but Israel\u2014only stiffened many Israelis\u2019 sense of isolation and determination to fight on, outside opinion be damned.<\/p>\n

Yet, at some point, the pangs of Oct. 7\u2014even the memories of the Holocaust and the slogan \u201cNever Again,\u201d which legitimized the creation of Israel as a Jewish state back in 1948\u2014cannot continue to justify Israel\u2019s infliction of destruction in Gaza: the deaths of an estimated 60,000 Palestinians, 18,500 of them children<\/a>, and the utter razing of so many homes, schools, hospitals, and other civilian structures. Yes, Hamas had appropriated many of these structures for its own use, but the level of wanton devastation has far surpassed the normal, often unavoidable levels of \u201ccollateral damage\u201d inflicted in other military campaigns.<\/p>\n

In his magisterial book Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist\u2013Arab Conflict, 1881\u20132001<\/a> (the vast span of that subtitle is chilling!), Israeli historian Benny Morris details the many \u201cmassacres\u201d that have occurred over all those decades. The thing worth noting here is that these massacres\u2014and Morris applies the word to acts of aggression and vengeance committed by both sides in their wars\u2014resulted in the killing of dozens or hundreds of civilians. At their worst, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts in southern Lebanon, about 1,200 civilians were killed over the course of 15 years.<\/p>\n

In other words, the current war in Gaza has seen an unprecedented level of savagery. Yes, Hamas started it, but the Israel Defense Forces have upped it fiftyfold.<\/p>\n

And now, with credible, thoroughly documented reports of famine<\/a>, including many instances of Israeli troops shooting unarmed Palestinians as they line up at aid stations to receive food and medicine<\/a>, the rationales or excuses for the IDF\u2019s brutality are untenable. Even President Donald Trump, who has prodded Netanyahu to \u201cfinish\u201d the war<\/a> by whatever means necessary, has noticed the \u201creal starvation<\/a>\u201d of Gazan children\u2014he\u2019s seen it on television; \u201cyou can\u2019t fake that<\/a>,\u201d he says\u2014though it remains to be seen whether he\u2019ll do anything about it. (Asked Tuesday whether Israel should reoccupy Gaza, a step reportedly favored by Netanyahu<\/a>, Trump replied, \u201cThat\u2019s going to be pretty much up to Israel<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Still, Bloomberg\u2019s Bronner thinks there may be something of a turning point in all this. Up till now, many Israelis could ignore the destruction their army has inflicted because TV news networks, as a matter of policy, haven\u2019t shown it. Now, though, these stations have started to air footage of the situation in Gaza\u2014and many Israelis are stunned. There has always been some domestic pressure to end the war, if just to bring home the remaining hostages who were taken Oct. 7. (Only about 20<\/a> are still thought to be alive.) Now the pressure may be growing.<\/p>\n

Just how much, though, is hard to gauge. Polls show that<\/a> a majority of Israelis want the war to end and the hostages returned. However, polls also show<\/a> that a majority want Hamas to be completely destroyed or expelled. If the two outcomes are incompatible\u2014if Hamas can\u2019t be destroyed without intensifying the war and probably dooming the remaining hostages\u2014it\u2019s hard to know which outcome Israelis would prefer or sacrifice.<\/p>\n

Another finding of Morris\u2019 history is that all the Arab\u2013Israeli wars, at least since 1948, have ended as a result of outside coercion\u2014American pressure on Israel, Soviet pressure on the Arab states (during the Cold War), or U.N. pressure on both. The United States still has the means to press Israel; it provides much of its arms and intelligence, and now that Israel no longer faces the same threat it once did from Iran and its neighboring proxies, Washington could impose an arms embargo without endangering Israel\u2019s security. A growing number<\/a> of Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well as a growing percentage<\/a> of the U.S. population, favor tightening the screws. But Trump doesn\u2019t, at least not yet, and the GOP-controlled Congress seems eager to follow his lead.<\/p>\n

Hamas has depended on Iran and Qatar for arms and other forms of aid. Iran is pretty much out of the picture, but Qatar could apply more pressure; it has done so, to the extent that it has compelled Hamas to take part in ceasefire negotiations (and, briefly, a couple of ceasefires). But its leverage seems limited as well.<\/p>\n

One intriguing development: Last week, the 22-member Arab League<\/a> publicly declared that there should not be a Palestinian state unless Hamas first disarms. This statement came just days after the leaders of Germany, France, and Britain expressed their support for a Palestinian state, as a means of forcing Israel to end (or at least tone down) the war. The Arab leaders\u2014who have never cared for Hamas (or any other radical Palestinian organization) but who also, for domestic political reasons, can\u2019t avidly disavow the group as long as they\u2019re getting pummeled by Israeli bombs\u2014seemed to be telling the Europeans: Don\u2019t take this business of a Palestinian state too literally. If a Palestinian state were actually set up tomorrow, Hamas, even in its weakened condition, would be the only organization strong enough to be in charge; and the Arab League is saying, \u201cBe careful what you wish for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu could have been more adroit<\/a> at playing the Arab and Palestinian powers off one another, and in this sense his political self-interest has damaged the security and reputation of his country. For some time, the Saudis have signaled a willingness to strike a grand bargain with Israel, including formal diplomatic recognition\u2014if Israel agreed, in principle, to resume negotiations toward a two-state solution to the long-standing Israel-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Fred Kaplan
\n Why Trump Is Failing on Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran
\n Read More<\/b>\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

By objective measures, this should be a no-brainer, an outright win-win, for an Israeli prime minister: Israel gets the benefits of Saudi recognition (an achievement that would have enormous influence throughout the Arab and Muslim world) without allowing the actual creation of a Palestinian state. For many years before Oct. 7, Israel pretended to negotiate with Palestinian emissaries just to placate foreign allies, especially the U.S. But now Netanyahu refuses even to pay lip service to the idea of negotiations, because if he did so, his right-wing coalition partners would quit the government, new elections would be held, and he might lose.<\/p>\n

There was a moment, maybe a month ago, when Netanyahu was riding high. Hezbollah\u2019s leadership had been killed or severely injured by small bombs planted in cellphones and walkie-talkies; Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities were blown up by Israeli and U.S. bombs, and its nuclear program, though not \u201cobliterated\u201d (as Trump initially claimed), was seriously set back<\/a>, perhaps by years. The attack on Iran was overwhelmingly supported<\/a> by the Israeli people; they lifted tangible threats that were either immediate (in the case of Hezbollah) or not quite tangible but existential (Iran\u2019s nuclear program).<\/p>\n

Netanyahu had a moment when he could have scuttled the pressure from his right-wing partners, formed a new government, taken real steps to end the war in Gaza, made a bold overture to the Saudi royal family (who were eager to accept such a move), and used all of these moves to reset relations with once friendly but increasingly disenchanted political parties in Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n

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    He didn\u2019t do any of this, and the only plausible reason is that he didn\u2019t want to. Netanyahu isn\u2019t just kowtowing to the right wing or protecting his political power; he believes the things he says about the need to wipe out Hamas, and according to Bronner and other reporters, many if not most Israeli Jews believe those things too. At least for now, as long as the notion of living side by side with Palestinians seems suicidal to them, the idea of a two-state solution is untenable. It may be that Israel\u2019s own ultraviolence against Palestinians\u2014in Gaza and, increasingly, the West Bank<\/a>\u2014is responsible for their hatred toward Israel, but that doesn\u2019t negate the problem or point to a plausible process toward peace.<\/p>\n

    Which leads back to the question: What can we do about it? It\u2019s unclear, but that doesn\u2019t mean we shouldn\u2019t try. Outside pressure has been the way these wars have been stopped in the past. Trump does have good relations with Netanyahu and with many Arab leaders. It would be nice if he had some experienced diplomats to exploit those relations to good ends.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

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