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The Israeli-Arab conflict has endured for more than three-quarters of a century. Throughout these 75 years, certain Arab regimes and Palestinian organizations have tried to advance on the path of “liberating Palestine.” Or so they pretended to do, yet their endeavors were limited to theatrics and eloquent speeches, failing to materialize into a concrete, genuine strategy for liberation. Consequently, these regimes found themselves essentially regressing rather than advancing on this path.
To break free from the vicious cycle and shatter sterile warlike gesticulations, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli Labor Party, led by Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin respectively, exhibited great political courage in 1993. They laid down the rational and robust groundwork for an authentic, lasting peace process aimed at establishing a Palestinian State. This marked the inception of the 1993 Oslo process, founded upon what later became known as the two-state solution.
However, the Oslo mechanism was sabotaged in 1995 following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli far-right activist, coinciding with terrorist actions perpetrated as early as 1994 by the Hamas movement, and on several occasions. Nearly three decades later, these same protagonists—the Palestinian extremist organization and the Israeli far-right—are key players in the ongoing Gaza conflict. This conflict starkly exemplifies the cynical strategy of irrationality and reckless escalation endured by the Palestinian and Lebanese populations for long decades…
How can we not mention irrationality and cynicism when we discover that Hamas had constructed dozens of tunnels solely for military purposes across the entire Gaza territory? Among them, approximately 50 tunnels crossed the border with Egypt near Rafah. These militarized underground passages necessitated substantial logistical and technical efforts to execute impressive infrastructure and civil engineering works spanning several years.
An essential question arises in this regard: why did Israeli governments, predominantly right-wing ones, not react to the construction of these extensive fortified military infrastructures? This question gains even greater significance considering that since 2007, Hamas has maintained firm control over the entire Gaza Strip, having violently ousted Fatah from the region. With such free rein, the extremist organization later morphed into the armed wing of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, all without provoking any Israeli reaction to this significant development.
The Israeli government’s laissez-faire attitude or indifference can only raise suspicion, particularly when one remembers that the right-wing in Israel supported and empowered Hamas. They relied on the fundamentalist movement to weaken the Palestinian Authority and torpedo the project that aimed to establish a Palestinian State, which they perceived—and continue to perceive—as a “threat” to Israel.
The same question arises regarding Egypt. Throughout these years, for what obscure reason did Cairo turn a blind eye to the construction of tunnels along its border with Gaza? Through these tunnels, weapons, ammunition, military equipment, militiamen, as well as various goods and consumer products transited with total impunity for many years. The tragedy unfolding in Gaza today, for which Hamas had not prepared any shelters, is a direct consequence of this dual laissez-faire approach by Israel and Egypt.
In essence, the situation amounted to supporting, reinforcing and arming Hamas with the intention of… later combating it more effectively, thus triggering a cycle that could compromise any lasting political solution! This enabled Hamas to wage “war for the sake of war” (endlessly, devoid of clear objectives or horizons), while providing the Israeli right-wing the opportunity to destroy Gaza and sabotage the Palestinian State project. Why, then, should we be surprised that the terrorist attack orchestrated by Hamas on October 7 unfolded seamlessly, despite extensive preparations involving over 2,000 militants and significant military resources, without arousing any suspicions within Israeli intelligence services?
The whole Israeli-Arab conflict narrative is marked with a strategy of irrationality, absurdity and reckless escalation within certain Arab regimes. This has taken a heavy toll on the Palestinian and Lebanese populations over 75 years, with no clear or realizable objectives in sight. How could it be otherwise when the two extremes, mutually reinforcing each other, effectively master the game on the regional chessboard and sporadically plunge into sterile yet deadly and destructive wars?
In the shadow of this feverish escalation, Western powers now bear the historic responsibility of breaking this infernal and vicious cycle of war by compelling, against all odds, the adoption of a worthwhile Oslo 2 agreement…
