Abject failure to achieve a just settlement to the Palestinian question will continue to pose a grave risk to international peace and security, writes former ambassador Niall Holohan
And it is only a political solution that can finally end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Military victories can never offer more than short term solutions. What is needed is a meeting of minds and a willingness to compromise so that both sides can claim they have won something – rather than the current situation where lives and resources are being destroyed at an appalling rate.
The only conclusion is that the US is continuing to take a one-sided approach to the conflict and – despite being the only country capable of influencing Israel in any material sense – has clearly forsaken the opportunity to act as a genuine mediator or peace-maker. For more than 30 years now the two-state solution which emerged from the Oslo Accords has been seen as the answer to this long-running conflict; it could well have been successful if it had been implemented fully and honestly. Regrettably, for all intents and purposes, this concept of two states no longer seems to be feasible.
Perhaps what both sides may now have to consider is the viability of a single democratic state in all the territory of historic Palestine, with equal rights for all its citizens and cast-iron guarantees for the two dominant communities. This will not be easy to achieve but the only alternatives on offer would appear to be the total subjection – if not annihilation – of one side by the other.
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