What to do about Gaza

CARL BILDTGaza has long been one of those geopolitical problems that everyone wishes would just disappear. Israel, certainly, would prefer to seal off the Palestinian enclave – both from its own territory and from its collective mind. And notwithstanding occasional utterances to the contrary, Egypt tends to feel the same way. Whenever there is renewed talk of pursuing peace in the region, Gaza is almost always the issue that is left on the back burner.True, humanitarian and relief agencies regularly issue detailed reports about the dire conditions facing Gaza's two million inhabitants; they are trapped in one of the most densely populated, under-resourced places on Earth. Still, the audience for this accounting of deprivation and despair tends to dwindle whenever some new humanitarian crisis emerges elsewhere and commands the world's attention. A lasting solution to Gaza's misery thus remains forever out of sight.The current outbreak of violence is following a familiar pattern: Hamas and its allies are firing barrages of rockets into Israel, which is responding with waves of air strikes. After each such conflict – the last major one was in 2014 – the situation returns to the broken status quo. The international community soon returns to business as usual, the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorates ever further, and the cycle eventually repeats.When I visited Gaza in early 2009, one of these spasms of violence had just ended. Militant extremists and innocent civilians alike had been killed in Gaza, and innocent civilians had been under attack in Israel. While there, I saw the devastation in the hardest-hit parts of the northern Gaza Strip and spoke with Palestinian business leaders who had been trying to offer Gazans hope by building bridges with their partners in Israel. The futility of these cyclical conflicts was as clear then as it is now.My hope this time is that after the rockets and the air strikes have ceased, there will be courageous peacemakers who do not shy away from taking the steps needed to break the pattern of hopelessness. That will require much more than another ceasefire. There needs to be a process for working toward peace and a viable political settlement.Lastly, the viability of a long-term solution requires affirming the future State of Palestine's use of Gaza for access to the Mediterranean, which will be its primary gateway to the world. Accordingly, Gaza will need its own port and airport, as well as a connection to the West Bank (arranged in such a way as not to threaten Israeli security).Much of the debate right now is focused on assigning blame for the latest wave of violence and suffering. A more constructive, albeit difficult, approach would be to acknowledge that both sides are right in important respects. That would allow everyone to start focusing on the goal of a long-term agreement based on the four principles outlined above.With that, Gaza's latest unnecessary war could finally lead to a necessary peace. My hope is that I will return to Gaza one day and see entrepreneurs building businesses and bridges to the world economy, and bringing jobs to young people who might otherwise see no alternative to extremism. Palestinians – and Israelis – deserve no less.* Carl Bildt was Sweden's foreign minister from 2006 to 2014 and prime minister from 1991 to 1994, when he negotiated Sweden's EU accession.

What to do about Gaza

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Namibian Sun 2022-08-18

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What to do about Gaza

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Namibian Sun 2022-08-18

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