Palestine: a political solution is imperative

Since 7 October 2023, the violence in the Middle East has escalated to unimaginable proportions. The Palestinian question, which many actors and observers considered to be virtually buried by now, has re-emerged in a terrible political and military uproar and is going through one of the darkest pages of its history.

As Bishop Vesco of Algiers put it, the actions of Hamas on 7 October – which can be described as war crimes, or even crimes against humanity, since they were committed against civilians – are « without excuse but not without cause ». The 2.3 million people of Gaza have been living in 360 km2 of almost hermetically sealed land since 2006, when Hamas won the elections in the Palestinian Territories and took control of the Gaza Strip, at the instigation of Israel and, to a lesser extent, Egypt. In the latter territory, 50% of the inhabitants are under 20 years of age, 75% of them are unemployed, living on the equivalent of 1.5 dollars a day and dependent on international humanitarian aid. The chairman of the French National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, rightly asked himself whether « a population with no future and therefore no hope could be tempted by moderate parties that had nothing to offer them » when he told the National Assembly on 23 October[1].

The 1,140 Israeli victims shot down in cold blood on 7 October triggered an Israeli reaction of unprecedented brutality. The Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Galant, announced the scale of the response when, on 9 October, he explained that there would be no mercy shown to the Gazans, whom he compared to « human animals », and stated that he had ordered a complete siege of the Gaza Strip: « No electricity, no food, no gas – everything is closed ». Everything is closed ». Since then, the Israeli aerial bombardments, followed by the ground operation from 27 October onwards, have not ceased their work of death at a terrifying rate, with the exception of a seven-day truce between 24 November and 1 December.

As these lines are being written, the intensity of the bombardments continues unabated. The toll was disastrous: 23,000 dead[2] – but probably many more if we include those under the rubble – two-thirds of the buildings destroyed and 80% of the population forced to leave their homes, i.e. 1.8 million people to be rehoused. Given the demographic structure and density of the Gaza Strip, humanitarian organisations believe that this is the largest mass grave of children ever seen in other wars, and that 70% of the victims are women and children.

The international community’s response to this situation has been inadequate, to say the least, despite the efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN). Although criticism is gradually growing and the demand for a cease-fire is becoming more pressing, the United States continues to veto it when a vote is held in the Security Council, and is giving Israel de facto total support by continuing to supply it on a massive scale with weapons that are causing uninterrupted death. On the whole, the condemnations of the States remain soothing because they are never followed by concrete measures. There is a terrifying aspect to this, and the people of Gaza can rightly feel excluded from humanity. The same cannot be said of public opinion, as there are many massive demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinian people throughout the world.

The objective of the Israeli leaders is quite clear. It is to make life in Gaza impossible and, if possible, to expel as many of its inhabitants as possible. The latter have understood that if they leave, they cannot return. They have fully understood the history of their families, who were forced to leave their land and homes in 1948-1949 when the State of Israel was founded, and have never been able to return. At the same time, atrocities are also on the increase in the West Bank, where settlements continue to multiply and radicalised settlers, under the complicit eye of the army, continue to attack and despoil Palestinians. Since 7 October there has been an increase in violence and arrests – almost 5,000 – most of them totally arbitrary. The Israeli apartheid regime is using a strategy of harassment and creating permanent insecurity for the Palestinians. Between the beginning of 2023 and 7 October, nearly 250 Palestinians had already been murdered by soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.

In Gaza, as in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Israeli leaders’ plan seems to be the same: to drive as many Palestinians as possible off their land and make the prospect of creating a Palestinian state impossible, as Benyamin Netanyahu has explicitly stated. We need to understand the significance of the composition of the Netanyahu government in office since the beginning of 2023, whose centre of gravity is clearly located on the far right. Jewish supremacists and ultra-Orthodox hold key ministerial posts and have no hesitation in publicly talking about the need to annex the Palestinian Territories outright. From this point of view, it is to be feared that the situation that opened up on 7 October will contribute to the acceleration of this project, which is in total opposition to the resolutions passed by the UN for decades now.

It is the constant deterioration in the situation of the Palestinian people that allows us to grasp the current spiral. The total lack of political prospects generates despair that leads to radicalism and dead ends. The fact that Hamas’s crimes are terrorism, understood as a method of action, does not mean that it can be compared to Al-Qaeda or Daech. Created in 1987, Hamas is an Islamo-nationalist movement, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which we know for a time benefited from the benevolent eye of the Israeli authorities to weaken Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). It won the 2006 elections, which shows that it has real popular roots. It is for these reasons that Benyamin Netanyahu’s objective of liquidating Hamas makes no sense. Military blows can be dealt, as is currently the case, but an organisation such as Hamas cannot in reality be eradicated.

The Palestinians know that if they are not to disappear from the world map, they must hold on to their land, tirelessly resist the denial of justice and commit themselves to a political solution. But the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas is now totally delegitimised. Young people no longer recognise themselves in this corrupt Authority, which appears to them as a body collaborating with the Israeli army of occupation. Hamas has perfectly understood this and the staging of its actions is designed to speak to the entire Palestinian population in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel itself. Given the current political vacuum, Hamas is seeking to present itself as the incarnation of the Palestinian resistance and national movement.

The Palestinian people have been under occupation for fifty-six years now, and have been subjected to recurrent attacks for seventy-five years. The international community has a singular responsibility in this matter for one simple reason: the creation of the State of Israel was the result of a vote at the UN and, since then, numerous resolutions have been passed condemning the dispossession of Palestinian rights. We must therefore demand the application of international law, and international law alone, but all international law.

There can be no real peace without a just political perspective. It is becoming imperative that the political will is finally expressed within the UN to put an end to the never-ending stream of violence that continues to plunge civilian populations into mourning. The first step is to demand a ceasefire. A ceasefire that does not mean a return to the status quo ante, but one that has the courage to take on board the need to apply all the parameters contained in the UN resolutions. Negotiations worthy of the name will then be possible. This is a matter of urgency, because how can we imagine for a moment that the all-out war being waged in Gaza and the acceleration of the violence and expropriations in the West Bank can contribute to Israel’s long-term security? The deluge of bombs raining down on Gaza and its trail of victims are likely to prepare an even more radicalised generation of young people, whose only thought will be revenge. A terrible admission of failure.

Text to be published in the monthly Aujourd’hui la Turquie, No. 227, February 2024.

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[1] « Minutes of the Ordinary Session of Monday 23 October 2023 », National Assembly 
[2] As at 7 January 2024, according to the Gaza Strip Ministry of Health.