The Way Forward
It’s now clear – and widely accepted by outside observers including the UK, the US and neighbouring Arab states – that the only way lasting peace can emerge from the conflict in Gaza is the formation of an independent Palestinian state. Although Palestine is already officially recognised by most countries (but not by the UK or the US), recognition has until now been largely symbolic, having done nothing to lift the burden of occupation by Israel. But recognition by the UK and the US before peace talks begin won’t be merely symbolic. It will remove the incentive for Israel to stall the talks, a tactic which in the past meant Palestinian hopes were dashed. In effect, it would tell the Israeli negotiators that the outcome has been decided, and the talks will be about the details. The end of the occupation has been demanded in a number of UN resolutions since the 1967 war, and is, of course, a requirement of the Fourth Geneva Convention, so in many ways the outcome of an independent Palestinian state was decided long ago, but not implemented.
The call for a Palestinian state is not popular with everyone in Israel, not least the current government, although there are some courageous voices calling for it. For Palestinians, at last being able to build better lives for themselves and their children, freed from the yoke of Israeli occupation, would signal the end of the Nakba. Peace and prosperity would be in sight, a powerful incentive not to allow a return to the days of conflict. For too many Israelis, stuck in a mind-set poisoned by decades of right-wing government rule, the people in a neighbouring Palestinian state wouldn’t be rejoicing in their long sought-after peace and instead they would set about trying to annihilate Israel.
Calming those fears in Israel will be one of the main tasks, but there will be others. One of the most urgent will be reforming and re-vitalising the Palestinian Authority (the PA), which has been in decline for many years under the leadership of 88 year-old Mahmoud Abbas. Any residual military ambitions against Israel will have to be quashed, and Hamas will need to be subsumed under the new PA. Long-delayed elections will have to be held at some stage. Israel will probably also dispute the use of the 1967 borders for the new Palestine, and may try to claim that some of the illegal settlements in the West Bank belong to Israel. The rebuilding of Gaza will be another huge task. Those capable of providing funding will want to see evidence that it won’t again be reduced to rubble, so a meaningful commitment to the two-state solution by Israel will be integral to the rebuilding project, as will Hamas disbanding its fighting units and committing to the peace process.
An excellent article by Hugh Lovatt sets out in more detail the problems that will need to be overcome, and we urge you to read it.
https://ecfr.eu/article/recognising-palestine-how-europeans-can-support-a-post-gaza-war-political-track/
[Hugh is a Senior Policy Fellow on the European Council for Foreign Relations, and is an advisor to British parliamentarians.]
Gaza now
In this update we have focused on the encouraging signs about the prospect of talks about a Palestinian state, but the suffering of the people in Gaza goes on. We must continue to call out Israel’s leaders for the abhorrent level of collective punishment Israel’s armed forces have visited on more than two million people – inhuman and unforgiveable, whether or not lawyers eventually decided we can call it ‘genocide’.
UK political leaders have been too weak and too slow in their condemnation, and the UK Prime minister has not yet publicly withdrawn his pledge of unconditional support to Benjamin Netanyahu, apparently deaf to the pleas of the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who’ve marched on the streets of London and other towns and cities. The Labour Party’s focus has centered on Keir Starmer’s response to dissent in his party, and whether or not tweets critical of Israel might be considered antisemitic. This navel-gazing is an insult to the desperate people being starved and bombed in Gaza, who need our help in bringing the Israeli onslaught to an end. We are grateful that the Liberal Democrats were the first to call for a cease-fire, but since then most of our MPs have been too quiet for too long. We still need more from them, and we hope they are listening.
The LDFP Committee