The main obstacle to reaching peace in Gaza

A little girl in Gaza looking for a place to go (by Adobe)

The world supports a two-state solution, yet practical pressure has only ever been applied to secure Israel's existence, not Palestine's. As the Gaza war rages, core disagreements block ceasefire talks: Hamas refuses to disarm or leave Gaza, while Netanyahu insists on its total defeat to maintain power. International mediators remain silent on defining victory or defeat, making negotiations futile. Meanwhile, historical doctrines and deep divisions within both Israeli and Palestinian leadership fuel the deadlock. With over 14 million Palestinians across the region, Israel may occupy land, but it cannot erase a people. Ahmad Abdel Rahman reports.

The main obstacles to ending the Gaza war are determining what is a victory and what is defeat. Without answers to these fundamental questions, any negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage exchange are impossible. Nor have Egyptian, Qatari, and American mediators addressed this fundamental issue.

Hamas demands a full and permanent ceasefire, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the beginning of reconstruction in exchange for the remaining hostages - a very powerful card. Israel deems it a failure if Hamas remains armed and in control of the Gaza and committed to liberate Palestine.

Netanyahu wants to "eliminate Hamas" ensure that it surrenders all its weapons, and expel its leaders and people. US President Donald Trump also wants this. The outcome is simple - a declaration of strategic victory for Israel and complete defeat of Hamas. This is strongly rejected by Hamas, which insists on not disarming and staying in Gaza. Hamas's priority is survival, maintaining its weapons and the ability to fight, irrespective of the sacrifices of the people in Gaza and Israel's brutality. Netanyahu's priority is to remain in power, maintain his extremely right-wing government, and claim victory. He is not bothered by the fate of the hostages, including the internal pressure for a deal to free them.

Within this framework, there is no solution to Israel's adherence, led by Netanyahu, to the so-called "Jabotinsky Doctrine" which translates as "No policy but to subjugate the enemy." Some people on the extreme religious right and secular right follow this doctrine.

Israel's most extensive wars came after its establishment, which was based on Ben-Gurion's acceptance of the partition of Palestine in accordance with UN Resolution 194, and against the position of Jabotinsky and his disciple Menachem Begin. They believed that no resolution would appease Palestinian demands. No amount of violence, brutality, or genocide by Israel will subjugate the Palestinians.

General Herzi Halevi, the former Israeli Chief of Staff, led the war of genocide in Gaza, knowing that "no war or operation can solve the problem, but what matters is creating a wider gap between wars," according to an interview published by the New York Times.

However, managing the century-long conflict, whether through wars or negotiations, peace treaties, and the Abraham Accords, is the "mother of all crises" amid the suffering of the Palestinians and Arabs, especially in the so-called "ring states": Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Does the entire problem lie with international politics, or is does the responsibility lie at the local level? Were the Zionists better able to manage the conflict than the Palestinians during periods of disagreement? Arguably, the Palestinians have failed in every attempt, even during the Gaza War and the suffering of the West Bank, to persuade the Israelis to end the division between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Historian Tom Segev, author of the book entitled: "A State at Any Price: The Life of Ben-Gurion" said: "We won the War of Independence not because we were good fighters, but because the Arabs were worse." Moreover, he said in a cabinet meeting: "If I believed in miracles, I would ask that the sea swallow Gaza." Former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, repeated this: "I dream of waking up one morning to see Gaza disappearing into the sea."

However, it is more difficult than the sea swallowing Gaza for Israel to swallow the Palestinian people. Today, the Palestinian population numbers 14.63 million, spanning the State of Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and other Arab and foreign countries. This compares to 7.247 million Jews in Israel.

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