With 40 Israelis killed by a combination of gunmen attacking in Israeli towns and rocket fire, and 198 Palestinians killed by Israeli retaliatory rocket fire on the Gaza Strip, it seems that war has once again reignited. It cannot escape notice that this sudden heating up in the conflict occurs at a time when several Muslim countries, headed by Saudi Arabia, are poised to recognize Israel. The pattern is familiar, but the scale is perhaps unprecedented. Previous episodes have been similar, in that Palestinian rocket attacks have been followed by Israeli retaliation, including by air strikes, but they all led first to a ceasefire, followed by a dialgue ending the conflict, at estileast temporarily.
A permanent solution will not come without a resolution of the Palestinian-Israel issue. The 1993 Oslo Accords between Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat envisaged a two-state solution. That seems to be now overtaken by events, mostly the Israeli takeover of Palestinian territory for settlements or connecting roads. At the root is the Israeli occupation, after the 1967 Six-Day War, of Egyptian and Jordanian territory, which had been part of the British Palestine Mandate, and on which Palestinians hoped to build a state. Unfortunately for them, that was also land where Israel looked to expand. It had not been satisfied with its original landgrab in 1948, and hoped to expand in the West Bank. So far, talks h0eaven getting Israel what it wanted, whether it be the Camp David Accords, by which Israel got recognition from Egypt, or the Abrahamic Accords, which saw the UAE and Bahrain follow in recognizing Israel.
Each recognition has come with profound commitments to the Palestinian cause, but the result seems to be the same: that Palestinian violence is to be met by violent retaliation.
Pakistan is one of the Muslim countries that has joined the calls for sanity to prevail. In the end, a ceasefire will only last until there is a fresh provocation. A true solution is not going to occur until the Palestinian people get their due rights, and the illegal occupation of theior land comes to an end.
