Envisioning Israeli-Palestinian Security

Following World War II, Albert Camus posed a “formidable gamble” to those who had survived a tragedy of immense proportions. “We’re in history up to our necks,” he observed, yet nevertheless we must wager that words are stronger than munitions. Sharon Dolev’s high regard for the potential of a revitalized Arab Peace Initiative shows her appreciation for achieving regional security and stability through diplomatic recognition and economic cooperation.

Ms. Dolev's work with the International Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) further indicates her commitment to diplomatic means for resolving disputes.

Regarding Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons, I think it’s crucial to recognize that Israel has a nuclear weapons arsenal and a biological weapons program and has not signed the relevant treaties for either. This failure to comply with international treaties signals an acute need for countries to organize unarmed methods such as embargoes and economic boycotts to bring Israel into compliance. 

Meanwhile, reliance on the power of negotiation requires what Gandhi described as “truth force.” Truthful description of what Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank have endured since October 7, 2023 takes us far beyond Ms. Dolev's terse observation that in Gaza, “people face severe shortages of water, food, and basic health services under constant threat of bombings and destruction.” They face a deliberate campaign of starvation used as a weapon of war. When Ms. Dolev says that "tens of thousands" have died, she omits that these deaths are overwhelmingly on the Gazan side and that the figure only counts bodies that have arrived in Gazan morgues – Gaza's death toll likely exceeds two hundred thousand and could soon rise to a million given Israel's staunch refusal to renounce starvation warfare.

Yes, people are under constant threat of bombings and destruction, but we must try to absorb what it means to live as a refugee in an open-air concentration camp, already one of the most densely populated areas on earth, even before 75% of the housing was destroyed as it now has been. More than 600 mosques and three churches have been destroyed. 2,000-pound bombs have been dropped on tents in ‘safe areas.’ The military and civilian Israeli death toll on Oct 7, maybe half of it inflicted by Israel's own government in pure disregard for its own citizens, pales before the suffering inflicted in any of Israel's routine "mowing the lawn" attacks on Gaza and justifies not a hundredth of what Israel has inflicted upon Gaza since.  The Israeli war machine has been used to wage relentless attacks against a largely unprotected civilian population now enduring one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history.    

Innocent civilians are being killed with sniper shots to the head. 31 out of 36 hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. Escape routes are cut off. Persistent restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into and around Gaza are driving a desperate shortage of food, fuel, and medicine. As access to humanitarian relief is deliberately choked off, children are being collectively punished while Israeli leaders denounce them as animals. The world watches in horror as surgeons are forced to amputate the limbs of wounded children with no anesthetics available to administer.

A new polio epidemic emerges while Israel vaccinates its soldiers but leaves the Palestinian civilian population without vaccines or safe drinking water. Newly released prisoners say they were subjected to torture, including being waterboarded and raped. Rather than bring suspects before international courts, Israel has resorted to assassinations of the very negotiators with which it purports to be seeking peace, and in a manner clearly intended to expand the conflict into a global war involving multiple nuclear-armed nations.

For years Israel has flagrantly violated the Geneva Conventions and basic principles of customary international law through its forceful acquisition of territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and through its transfer of Israeli settlers into the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israel’s flagrant violations, shamefully supported by the United States and its Western European allies, demand a response not just from the region's states but from the entire international community.

The World Court, in its July 19, 2024, authoritative Advisory Opinion on Israel’s Settlement Policy and Practices, clearly declared the Israeli settlement project in the Occupied Territories to be illegal and outlined the obligation of all parties to the Geneva Conventions and Geneva Accords to discontinue any economic or trade dealings with Israel which might help entrench Israel’s occupation and unlawful presence in the territory. What’s more, countries that signed or ratified the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions are obligated to immediately stop arms exports to Israel and to use political, military and economic influence to prevent and stop Israel's flagrant, escalating violations of international humanitarian law.

It is unclear that the region is still willing to offer its Arab Peace Initiative or, indeed, any outcome short of a unitary, democratic state of Palestine completely freed from ethnostate movements.  The immense popularity within Israel of the Netanyahu regime's current genocidal campaign has been noted globally. As the United States' unipolar moment diminishes, and as Israel's military advantage increasingly rests on its nuclear arsenal, Israel’s ability to function despite its newfound pariah status comes into serious question.  If the world can resist being drawn into a global nuclear exchange, Israel may soon be forced to accept whatever peace terms are on offer.