As I write this article, the Israeli army’s attack on United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon is the latest violation – yet another – of international law by the Jewish state.
Israel has been violating international law for almost three-quarters of a century, when the so-called Nakba took place in 1948.
The Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, is the term used to describe the exodus of 700,000 Palestinians from what is now the State of Israel, between 1946 and 1948, under British mandate. Palestinians lost their homes following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The majority of Palestinian Arabs were displaced and the Israeli occupation of their historic territories began, limiting Palestinian areas to the West Bank and Gaza.
From then on, relations between Palestinians and Israelis were dominated by violent conflicts: 1967 (Six-Day War); 1978; 1982 (invasion of Lebanon and birth of Hezbollah); 2006 (occupation of Lebanon); 2023.
On October 7, 2023, following the Hamas terrorist attack from Gaza, a “war” broke out between Israel and the allies of the Palestinian cause. I write “war” in quotation marks because there is no minimal equivalence between the military strength of Israel and that of the Palestinians. Only the death tolls express this: 1,200 on the Israeli side; At least 50,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
It is an endless war in the double meaning of this last word. It is a war that increasingly seems to have no spatial or temporal limits. The Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to constantly expand the territorial objective of its military actions, which extend in particular to Lebanon, and will probably extend to Iran. Israeli army defense spokesmen have reiterated that they will attack the enemy “wherever they are.”
However, the twelve months that have passed since 7-0 have not made Israel any more secure, as it is trapped in a succession of eternal responses and counter-reactions, with devastating effects.
In reality, Israel has no concrete strategy in an already regional conflict. There is a lack of a story that gives meaning to Netanyahu’s policies, which does not allow us to see a way out. Because if Israel wants to feel secure, it must recognize Palestinian identity and openness to the two-state formula envisaged in the Oslo Accords in 1993, a consequence of the Madrid Conference of 1991.
Today, Gaza is unlivable, with no possibility of meeting the most basic needs of electricity, food or water. This is precisely the goal of the far-right political parties that form the most radical government in the history of the Jewish state.
The above is not just a consequence of 7-O. The United Nations Human Rights Council found in a 2009 report that the Israeli military had adopted an approach “intended to punish, humiliate and terrorize the civilian population” of Palestine.
The United States, Israel’s traditional ally and arms supplier ($15 billion in 2024 alone), has proven incapable of achieving de-escalation and a ceasefire. Joe Biden was ignored by Netanyahu and was unable to prevent the spread of war in the region. The Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt (1978) and the peace accords between Israel and Jordan (1994) are a long way off.
Military means are not enough to win this endless war. No regional power in the Middle East can confront Israel militarily on the same level, but this may hinder Netanyahu’s goal of becoming the hegemonic power in the region. This is what is happening with Iran, a country with nuclear pretensions, whose influence has increased in the so-called “axis of resistance” largely thanks to the policies of the president of the Israeli government , which intends to annex the West Bank and Gaza. and achieve “total victory”.
Netanyahu never bothered to free the hostages held by Hamas. This does not seem to be his government’s priority.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Finance Minister, said: “My mission in life is to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. »
In fact, no political party in Israel plans to end the occupation and create conditions for a two-state solution.
As long as this is the position of the Israeli government, Netanyahu’s horrible “endless war” will not end.
