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Now is the time

Aug 02,2014 - Last updated at Aug 02,2014

The much acclaimed blueprint for the solution of the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state formula   appears to have gone haywire in the aftermath of the war on Gaza. 

The Gaza debacle has effectively thrown a wrench into the wheels of the peace process and ground it to a halt even though the process was hardly moving. 

The parties may have gone back to square one in the search for a political settlement, especially after the outbreak of civil strife in the West Bank and Palestinian cities and towns within Israel, or have they? 

There is a folkloric saying in the Arab world that predicts something positive emerging from something that went terribly wrong. 

The Gaza war may very well be the catalyst for a major breakthrough in the stalled peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians after all. 

It must have dawned on Israel, especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that unless the two sides get to the bottom of the Palestinian file soon, renewed conflict would be a foregone conclusion. 

A repeat of the Gaza syndrome will be a sure thing if there is no real peace between the two sides. 

Given the proposition that the root cause of even the recent conflict is the continued absence of a solution to the nearly seven decades old Palestinian issue, and the perpetual state of siege over the Gaza Strip, Israel should be the first to acknowledge that time has long past for a real settlement and that time is not on the side of a durable and just settlement with the Palestinians. Waiting any longer would be at Israel’s peril. What happened in Gaza could erupt in the West Bank as well. 

The Gaza war may have weakened the hands of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and compromised his stature among the Palestinian people. Given the fact that Abbas is the only living Palestinian leader who can deliver the two-state solution to the Palestinians, including Hamas, while also accepting to demilitarise the future Palestine state and put its eastern borders under some international control, Israel must seize his olive branch and move expeditiously to strike a historic deal with him before it is too late. 

Otherwise the outbreak of other Gaza-like wars would be the norm for as long as one can see.

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