War in the Middle East: what comes next?
Israel is continuing its offensive against the radical Islamic Hamas organisation in the Gaza Strip in the new year. There have also been Israeli drone attacks on Lebanon - according to the Israel army in response to shelling - and allegations of the targeted assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut. Commentators warn that the situation has reached an impasse.
Time has stood still for the Israelis
Journalist Menachem Gantz complains in La Repubblica of a lack of understanding:
“The hands of the world clock have moved to 2024. In Israel, however, time has stood still. For Israeli citizens, the date remains 7 October 2023. A deep gulf separates the way Israelis perceive the reality of their lives from the way the West and the free world view Israel. There is a lack of understanding, a genuine discrepancy between the constant hardship and trauma in which the citizens of Israel live and the perception of the majority in democratic countries. ... All citizens have been robbed of their sense of security. ... This fear is mixed with infinite grief for those murdered.”
Only a just peace can end the conflict
The Tages-Anzeiger writes:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping that Trump will win the elections in the US. With Trump, Netanyahu developed a foreign policy strategy that looked promising for a long time. ... Now no Arab country can afford to make peace with Israel, regardless of the outcome of the Gaza war. US President Joe Biden is beginning to put pressure on Netanyahu to end the war and find a solution with the Palestinians. He, or his successor, must decide on an acceptable peace offer, because even if Israel does manage to kill all Hamas fighters, in five years' time there will be twice as many new ones unless there is the prospect of a just peace.”
A shot in the foot
Le Figaro warns against prolonging the war:
“This Zionism of conquest is suicidal for Israel and for the West which supports it. The true security of a state resides in good relations with all its neighbours. But such a strategy of expulsion has very little chance of ever being accepted by Israel's near or distant neighbours. ... This is the perfect recipe for perpetual war. Even the US may one day tire of the arrogance of an Israeli right that denies the Palestinians the very possibility of constituting a nation.”
US presence cemented
Internationally, Hamas and its partners have gained nothing, HuffPost Greece argues:
“As much as Iran, Turkey and, in the background, Russia have tried to drive the US out of the south-eastern Mediterranean and thus jeopardise the Abraham Accords, not only have they not succeeded and will not succeed, but it has become more likely that the presence of the US in the Middle East will continue to be perceived as that which can ensure the coexistence of the heterogeneous populations in the south-eastern Mediterranean. The eyes of international diplomacy are focused on the Israeli territories. From there, political issues that have been a focus of diplomacy for decades will be decided.”
West too naive regarding the Palestinians
Peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians is hardly conceivable, Novinky.cz is convinced:
“A recent survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) found that 82 percent of West Bank residents support the 7 October pogrom. ... And how could it be otherwise? After all, this is now the fourth generation of Palestinians that has been taught to hate Jews since kindergarten, and the families of suicide bombers are celebrated and receive large compensation payments. The vast majority consider Israel to be an usurper of Arab territory that must be destroyed. ... The idea that the Palestinian Authority, which rejoiced over the pogrom, would become the guarantor of peace in Gaza is downright absurd.”