- ARAB NEWS
- 02 May 2024
Since 1975
Let me make two things clear at the outset. Firstly, the attacks by Hamas and others on Oct. 7, 2023, were barbaric and unjustified, and the perpetrators deserve the harshest punishment. Secondly, I have supported the existence of the state of Israel throughout my parliamentary and ministerial career, and still do.
But we cannot go on with the events that have taken place since Oct. 7. And I now firmly believe that, as part of the fresh thinking that must take place, the UK and the US would be better to urge an end to Israel’s ground offensive and call for a ceasefire as part of a process of change, which is both vital and urgent.
On the practical side, the reasoning of real friends of Israel should be that the objectives of obtaining the safe release of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas are not being met and have little chance of doing so through present policy. The hostages have, to date, almost invariably been released as a result of negotiation. Evidence would suggest that the present conflict may be removing an element of the current Hamas fighting force, but at the expense of increasing support for it and creating legions of new and likely recruits in the future, not least those being orphaned and wounded daily in Gaza and the West Bank.
The objectives of obtaining the safe release of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas are not being met
Alistair Burt
On the wider issues, the scale of the catastrophic humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the loss of innocent life is taking on a new dimension, even in this historic conflict, and radicalizing anew. There were alternative senior voices in Israel warning of the risks of such an invasion, but they were not heard by the Cabinet hard-liners. There is a terrible possibility of this going on, interminably, as just another chapter, with a rising threat of escalation in the region and beyond.
But it must not. Virtually all diplomats in the region view the events as so serious that there can be no return to Oct. 6, with some false sense of security resting upon a simmering West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. There will be no rebuilding of Gaza this time without a comprehensive resolution of all long-running elements. We cannot go back and we cannot go on.
If they truly believe this, then we must see some actions that reflect the radical thinking that is required. This will be hard for Israel, which sees only Oct. 7 and denies any other context, but it must come. It has not been able to guarantee the security of its people through force of arms or fences.
Nor has its policy of undermining the Palestinian Authority and tacitly condoning Hamas, while working to “manage” the Palestinian issue by marginalizing it, been a success.
Both Israel and supportive states also have to confront the taboo of occupation, call it what it is and acknowledge that the routine scolding of settlement announcements followed by no consequences has not been in Israel’s interest.
It can be argued instead that the ruling out by too many states of any accountability whatsoever for Israel’s infringements of international law has allowed the rise of a sense of impunity among some of its politicians, no longer fringe extremists but Cabinet members. And there is also a section of Israelis who now believe in a form of territorial domination with a vehemence matched only by those who seek their state’s eradication.
But if Israel and its friends must acknowledge this, others need to rethink and act differently also. Israel and its people are entitled to be secure and cannot simply be asked to cease acting against those pursuing the elimination of the state and its Jewish population without further protection. The hostages should be released, now.
There will be no rebuilding of Gaza this time without a comprehensive resolution of all long-running elements
Alistair Burt
Every Arab state — and any that has given cover to Hamas in the past — has got to tell the group and its leadership that these politics and genocidal ideologies are over, that Israel will continue to exist with their support and that Hamas constitutes such a threat to all that it will be resisted and fought against if it does not end its war. This can only happen if Israel declares that the occupation is at an end and that self-determination for the Palestinian people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza is now Israeli policy, with work beginning on it immediately.
These are tall orders, but what else is there? It is one state, two states or permanent war. States and their leaders, Western and those in the region alike, have all turned a blind eye for years to things that are too inconvenient to challenge. The price has been paid by many over time — and now by those killed on and since Oct. 7 and their families. If there are not to be more, then the inseparable equation of justice and security for all Palestinians and Israelis must be recognized, negotiated for and delivered by all those of us who have failed in the past.
