Flickr/Michael Loadenthal. Some rights reserved.Recent incidents in Israel and Palestine are clear indications of
the demise of the Oslo Accords. A new strategy to halt potential upcoming
violence and the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) must be drawn up and
fast.
“Peace” now has no meaning and has been discredited as both a
concept and word. Since 1993, “peace”
never guaranteed the cessation of killing. After all these years, more and more
land has been confiscated, houses demolished, people arrested, killed, and executed.
The continuous siege on the Gaza Strip and daily apartheid practices in the West Bank, accompanied with the inequality
between the native people of Palestine who have Israeli citizenship and those
who do not, does not stop.
Since Netanyahu came to power in 1996, peace has
become a nauseating word. The Roman historian
Tacitus once said of the Roman conquest of Britain that "the Roman army created
a desolation, and called it peace". The same is happening to the
Palestinians, Arabs, Europeans, Americans and Israelis. Both peace and its
process are bleak.
As the world was celebrating Christmas; Israel executed four Palestinian teenagers
just a few kilometres away from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. Since
October 2015, Israel has killed
over 150 Palestinians,
and most of these barbaric acts were captured live on camera.
Keeping the status-quo as is will increase the numbers of radicals and extremists on both sides.
Recently, wedding guests exemplified a radical segment of Israeli
society; a video
went viral of a group celebrating the death of a Palestinian toddler. An
extremist group called, “Price
Tag”, burnt the toddler alive. Moreover, Israel has arrested more than 2400
Palestinians since October.
If attacks in Israel continue, it is very likely the Israeli government will
react and either occupy the West Bank and/or launch new aggression on the Gaza
Strip. This will lead to the collapse of the PA, and a weakening of the de-facto
shadow-government led by Hamas. Palestinians already have no trust in Fatah,
Hamas and the PA in general. The current level of oppression, deadlock in
peace, severe injustice, and the frustration among Palestinians is increasing
and will perplex the whole situation. The other alternative is more
radicalisation and extremism, and eventually fertile land for ISIS like-minded
factions or groups.
Obviously, this will rewind the clock back to the pre-Oslo Accords
period. However, the result is not
likely to be the same. The international community will not accept continuous
military occupation, and parts of Israeli society do not want to bear the price
of its army’s madness. To do injustice then is to abandon the two state
solution.
Numerous intellectuals, writers and activists are widely labelling
Israel as an apartheid
state and for this label to stick and be recognised internationally, the
road and struggle are long and extremely difficult.
The alternative is to keep the status-quo as is, which in turn will
increase the numbers of radicals and extremists on both sides. Regardless of the outcome, Netanyahu is
playing with a ticking time bomb that will not only harm him but the entire region.
All his actions are de-legitimising Israel, and empowering radicals and
extremists.
Both Netanyahu and suicide bombers represent two sides of the same
coin; both lethal and unstoppable.
It is of great importance to concentrate efforts in combating
Netanyahu and his extremist government. With international pressure, mass
non-violent demonstrations, the boycott of Israeli products, sanctioning Israel
globally, and confronting Israeli apartheid through international trials, there
may be hope.
Netanyahu and his government must be held accountable and stopped
from fuelling hatred. Their actions are loudly echoing their disinterest in
peace and they must be stopped.