A year into an endless war, vengeance is not the answer.
When Islamic militants from Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israeli men, women, children and elderly a year ago on October 7 and took more than 250 Israeli hostages, few Mideast observers imagined it would touch off a regional war that now has engulfed Gaza, Lebanon and pro-Iranian militants in Yemen, Iraq and Syria — and threatens to spread to more direct attacks between Israel and Iran.
The Biden administration has appeared powerless to halt the escalation, and that fact underscores a terrible truth about the Middle East — when there is a vacuum or a lull in peace talks, it has always been filled by violence.
While Israel mourned the loss of life Monday — the Oct. 7, 2023 slaughter was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust — the families of the hostages remembered the many who died in Hamas tunnels under Gaza and and begged their own government to put aside war and negotiate more seriously for the release of some 100 who are believed to remain captive or unaccounted for. Source: NYT.
In the course of this past year, Israel has punished its enemies mightily, often with U.S. weapons, but offered no endgame other than war. The prospect of peace remains a distant dream, even a fool’s errand to some. But it’s not an impossible dream.
Israel launched punishing attacks on the Gaza Strip, going after the Hamas forces, who have been labeled terrorists by both the U.S. and European powers. More than 41,000 Palestinians have died in the destruction, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. More than 2 million Gazans have been displaced, (source: WaPo) and as many as 200,000 Israelis have had to leave their homes in the south near Gaza or in the north, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants fired rockets into Israel from Lebanon in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The uniformity of the destruction and loss of life in Gaza even had President Joe Biden criticizing Israel’s hardline government for “indiscriminate” bombing. But it has not been in Biden’s power to stop it. More reporters have been killed in this carnage — one recent count put the figure at 128 journalists and media workers, some killed with their entire families -- than in any war since the Committee to Protect Journalists started keeping records three decades ago. Source: CPJ
It should be manifestly clear by now that endless war provides no hope and will not bring the hostages home. Only negotiations can save those who might remain alive. The staggering death toll on all sides will only generate a new generation of traumatized people — both in Israel and in the Palestinian territories, and among Arab neighbors under fire or part of what Iran calls the “axis of resistance.”
If the Hamas and Iranian goal was to torpedo a move toward normalization by Israel and its moderate Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, that has been a success for the so-called axis. Extremists on both sides are doing their best to drive a stake through the heart of any long-term chance of peace. Israel has seen much of its international support eroding as the war dragged on over the past year, and yet the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to promote a strategy for the day after the war and a means for combatants to have hope for one day seeing a just, two-state solution — the only rational goal toward which the Palestinians and Israelis must strive if they hope to end the madness. Hamas, for its part, has never sought peace, but also wants total victory, which means the destruction of the Jewish state.
Palestinians wave identity cards as they gather to receive flour rations for their families outside a warehouse of UNRWA, the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 12, 2023. Mohammed Abed/Getty-AFP.
As I wrote last December in the Chicago Tribune, the U.S. president can make a difference, either President Biden or his successor. America needs to redouble its efforts to work more forcefully now "to outline that vision and build support for it among Israelis and Palestinians, as well as allies in the region and around the globe. Both sides must see a horizon with hope, security and justice, or they will face endless violence, war and death. There is no military solution to this conflict. Only a two-state endgame offers a viable, long-term political solution that could one day work — even if, after all this trauma, it takes years to happen.”
As Biden winds down his presidency, it may well now be one of the biggest challenges awaiting the next administration.
At a time of reflection for Jews around the world and an inflection moment for Arab and Muslim supporters of the Palestinian people, I leave you with the wise words of Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace, advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "it remains as true today as it was a year ago that long-term safety and a better future for our children won’t be secured solely through lethal force.
"Ultimately, the political conflicts embroiling the region and challenging Israel’s long-term security must be resolved through diplomacy,” he said. "Endless war serves only extremists. Vengeance unleashes more pain and new enemies — deepening the cycle of violence."
— Storer Rowley
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