Proven military superiority and responding to violence with violence have not brought peace and security to Israel in the last 70 years and, regrettably, might not in the future too.
The seeds of the conflict between Israel and the Arabs were sown at its very birth. After its creation in May 1948 as per UNGA Resolution 181 of November 1947, the Partition Resolution gave 54.5% area to Israel and 44% to the Arabs; Israel was recognized as a state and given UN membership but no state was created for the Palestinians; instead 700,000 Palestinians became refugees. The Arabs disapproved of the partition and Israel faced a joint attack from the armies of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon; some help also came from Saudi Arabia. However, the combined Arab armies couldn’t defeat Israel. With the intervention of the UN in February 1949, Israel signed separate armistice agreements with her neighbours—Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan and Syria .While Egypt retained control on Gaza strip and Jordan on the West Bank, the only losers were the Palestinians as some of the territory granted to them under the Partition Resolution now went to Israel. This was like rubbing salt to a wound. The Palestinians were forced to live on the West Bank and Gaza strip on territory, mostly in UN refugee camps, which was barely 22% of their historic territory which the Palestinians claim has been theirs for hundreds of years.
The realization that the Arab armies weren’t a match to her and the US and her allies would stand by her side (thanks to the Jewish lobby in the US, no President can take an anti-Israel stand) encouraged Israel to nibble more territory of her neighbours; unfortunately, the worst losers were the Palestinians again. The six-day war which began on 5 June 1967 with Israel’s preemptive air strike against Syria and Egypt in which roughly 20,000 Arabs and 800 Israelis lost their lives ended on 10 June 1967 with UN intervention. Israel occupied Golan heights from Syria, the West Bank including East Jerusalem from Jordan and Gaza strip and Sinai peninsula from Egypt. Israel began establishing settlements on these occupied territories thus sharpening the bitterness of the Arabs and further shrinking space available to the Palestinians.
According to Trimurti, India’s first Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority who lived on the West Bank, the Palestinians “lived, packed like sardines in refugee camps in the most densely populated area in the world. Their life was a daily struggle since their livelihood depended on whether the border with Israel was closed or open. And the Israelis could open or close like a tap…their children grew up brutalized by their experiences.”
The conditions in Gaza are much worse; over 2.17 million people live in an area of 365 sq km; 1.38 million are registered as refugees. Even in normal times, none can travel from Gaza to the West Bank without an Israeli permit, which is very hard to get. After the latest attacks by Hamas, Israel has imposed a complete blockade on Gaza and stopped electricity, water, gas and food supplies and asked people to leave, but where to and how? These measures have been criticized by the UNSG, Antonio Guterres as violative of international law. The EU, which has squarely condemned Hamas’ violent attacks, also feels a total blockade of Gaza might constitute violation of human rights.
Hamas (Islamic Resistance movement) gained prominence in Gaza in 1993 during the first Intifada against Israel. Visuals of this David vs Goliath like confrontation between armed Israeli soldiers and stone throwing Palestinian youth seen on millions of TV screens world over showed Israel as a state which used excessive force against the poor Palestinian youth, mostly unarmed. Intifada represented Palestinian youth’s anger and frustration against Israeli occupation and disillusionment with the PA led by Arafat which controlled the West Bank and failed to deliver on the cherished dream of an independent Palestinian state. Hamas never renounced the use of violence for regaining the lost Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem and hasn’t recognized Israel’s right to existence.
Yasser Arafat (Abu Amar), initially a Palestinian militant, was the most visible face of Palestinian resistance to Israel. Over the years, realizing the futility of violent means to fulfill the dream of a free and independent state for the Palestinians, he renounced violence and publicly recognized Israel’s right to exist. This transformative plunge to embrace peace instead of weapons led to the signing of the Oslo Accord with the then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993; it envisaged mutual recognition by Israel and the PLO of each other and transfer of some governing rights on the West Bank and the Gaza strip by Israel to the PA (Palestinian Authority).
Eventually, this peace process was supposed to lead to a mutually negotiated two-state solution. Essentially, it flagged the UN Resolution 242, which called upon Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967. These resolutions (Oslo I and Oslo II) reaffirmed the land for peace formula of the Camp David Accord of 1978.
Unfortunately, the Oslo agreement signed at the White House in the presence of President Bill Clinton by Arafat and Rabin received an irreparable blow when Rabin was assassinated by an extremist Jew on 4 November. Benjamin Netanyahu’s election as the PM further retarded the peace process; he wasn’t even willing to meet Arafat. Signs of self-governance within five years promised by the Oslo Accord fast evaporated. Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to the Temple Mount triggered off the “Al Aqsa intifada” in 2002 that lasted for five years, causing 4,500 deaths, 2/3rd of them of Palestinians. Israeli troops re-entered the West Bank and humiliated Arafat by confining him to his compound in Ramallah without electricity for months. Sadly, with the departure of Rabin and Arafat also disappeared the faint glimmer of hope of a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Arafat’s dream of two states lay in tatters.
The failure of the Oslo accords to deliver on pledges strengthened Palestinian hardliners like Hamas; they continued to espouse violence against Israel; their rhetoric appealed to the Palestinian youth in Gaza so their victory over the PA in the elections in Gaza in 2007 wasn’t surprising. On the other hand, anti Palestinian policies of Israeli leaders like Netanyahu and daily insults, humiliations, excesses hurled at thousands of Palestinians who went to work in Israel filled them with bitterness and anger against Israel and disillusionment with the PA.
Evidently, non-implementation of the Oslo accords, weakening of the authority of the PA and the harsh treatment of ordinary Palestinians on a daily basis created an ecosystem which left no common ground for peace.
Since 2007, when Hamas started administering Gaza, there have been several confrontations with Israel following a predictable pattern: Hamas will fire rockets indiscriminately killing some Israelis and Israel will retaliate by killing 10 times more Palestinians and destroying scores of buildings. In 2008-2009, while Hamas attacks killed 13 Israelis, Israel’s retaliatory operation killed around 1,400 Hamas fighters.
This time, Hamas caught the Israelis off-guard with coordinated land, air and sea attacks, breaching Israel’s famed invincible defence system; their rockets have killed nearly 1,500 Israelis; they have taken around 150 Israelis as hostages including women and children. Eventually, on account of her military superiority, Israel will prevail, i.e. Hamas will be decimated, at least, for the time being. But have Israel’s successive military victories since 1948 got her peace and security that it has been wanting so desperately?
If not, isn’t it time for Israeli leaders cutting across party lines to do some introspection, revisit their attitude and policies towards the Palestinians. There is a clear writing on the wall for Israel: no matter how many Palestinians they kill or how many buildings and towns they reduce to rubble, peace and security will remain elusive. What they need is a change of mindset and change of heart and learn to love and respect their neighbours. Love begets love. Hate begets hate.
A crime is a crime. Terror is terror. Brutality is brutality. These must be condemned and rejected irrespective of the religion and nationality of the perpetrators. The Hamas have committed heinous crimes in Israel; their acts of violence and brutality must be condemned in the strongest terms. Israel has a legitimate right to punish the perpetrators. But if Israel, which claims to be a democracy and upholder of human rights resorts to the same level of brutality and violence and inflicts collective punishment on 2 million Palestinians, how is it different from Hamas? As Mahatma Gandhi said long back: an eye for eye is no solution, it will make the whole world blind.
Israel must realize the futility of military solutions as Rabin did. Revisiting the Oslo Peace Accords, implementing their provisions, embracing the land for peace formula enshrined in the Camp David accord of 1978 and fulfilling the obligations of UN Resolution 242 are the only rational options for a lasting peace and security both for Israel and the Palestinians.
In the peace and security of the Palestinians are the peace and security of Israel. Without the emergence of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, peace will remain invisible.
The US could have nudged Israel to opt for this option long back but didn’t. It has never been an honest broker thanks to its domestic politics. The international community must strive to get this conflict brought to an end. After the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, the world cannot afford another divisive and polarizing conflict, which will hurt the Global South the most.
With nearly 20,000 Indians in Israel who are being evacuated under the Operation Ajay, extensive defence, agricultural and scientific cooperation with Israel and the present state of India’s relations with the US, India has rightly chosen to walk the tightrope—it condemned Hamas terror but reiterated India’s support for a free and independent Palestinian state. This will serve India’s interests well.
Surendra Kumar is a former Indian ambassador.