EDITORIAL: The genocidal war unleashed by Israel against the besieged Gaza population, fully supported by the US and its European allies has failed to destroy Hamas, prompting them to resurrect the talk of a two-state solution - long dead in the water.
President Joe Biden backing the mass murder of Gazans with weapons, money and use of veto at the UN to counter all ceasefire moves, has said creation of an independent Palestinian state is still possible, though Benjamin Netanyahu has readily rejected the proposal.
The latter has been vowing to continue the war “until the end - until total victory - until we achieve all of our goals”. His war effort, however, is losing steam. In a latest development Israel has proposed, via Qatar and Egypt, a two-month pause in fighting for the release of its hostages - a breather that might lead to a more durable ceasefire whilst the revival of two-state solution gains traction.
As 27 European Union member states’ foreign ministers prepared to hold separate meetings on Monday with their counterparts from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and key Arab states, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrel said Israeli cannot build peace only by military means, “what we want to do is to build a two-state solution.
So let’s talk about it.” Lending voice to a growing public unease over the massacre of at least 25, 700 Palestinians - nearly half of them children - and about 64,000 wounded, in Gaza - he asked “which are the other solutions they have in mind? To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill them?” In a similar vein German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock averred two-state solution is the only solution that would allow for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Earlier last month, the European Parliament also passed a motion calling for two-state solution which, it said, should go hand in hand with peace talks. That though is an unrealistic goal for two reasons.
One is that most of the EU governments, despite expressing concern over ceaseless bombing of homes, hospitals, schools and UN facilities in Gaza, are unwilling to take practical steps to stop it, such as resorting to divestment and sanctions on the aggressor state.
Secondly, the fate of earlier two-state talks and the Oslo Accords, amply demonstrate that it is useless to expect a workable negotiated settlement from the Zionist state, i.e., even if it agrees to do that.
The root cause of conflict is occupation of Palestinian lands in blatant violation of international law and UN resolutions. The EU official pointed out: “the United Nations recognizes, and has recognized many times, the self-determination right of the Palestinian people.
Nobody can veto it.” Yet 56 years on, Israel and its Western backers continue to veto that commitment to the UN Charter. Only an end to occupation can pacify Hamas and other resistance groups, not rhetoric of a two-state solution.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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