Comprehensive Political Settlement… The Only Path to Middle East Peace

The ceasefire agreement reached between the Palestinians and the Israelis was put under pressure and Egyptian-American intervention.

An end to the bloody conflict between the two sides, which lasted for more than 11 days and was paid for mainly by innocent civilians, especially from the brotherly Palestinian people, but this truce, which has survived and succeeded in consolidating the ceasefire, raises an important question : Will it be a temporary truce after which the two sides will return to a new wave of bloody conflicts and wars, in a pointless scene that never ends, and presents a gift to extremists on each side? Or would it be a prelude to serious moves towards a comprehensive and lasting political settlement between Israelis and Palestinians?

“The main lesson to be drawn from these latest confrontations, and the significant loss of life and property it has caused, is that there is no winner in this war, although both sides are quick to declare victory.” Although the Palestinian losses have been more severe due to the imbalance of power between the two sides, the scenes of killing and destruction have further damaged Israel’s image in the world and have increased the sympathy of many around the world for the Palestinians and their just cause.

The other lesson of the world is that peace, stability and security in the Middle East can be fully achieved only through a comprehensive and just political settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This conflict is not just about the two sides, but it is at the heart of the problems of the entire region. This is the painful conflict that all radical and extremist forces in the region are trying to exploit to achieve their own agendas. Terrorist and extremist groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, are exploiting this conflict and the suffering of the Palestinian people to promote their extremist agenda and speeches inciting violence, hatred and extremism, and to recruit young people and sympathizers of the Palestinian cause into their ranks after accusing Arab governments of treason, conspiracy, weakness and trying to turn peoples against them.

This issue is also being exploited by radical forces in the region who are aspiring to strengthen their regional influence and aspire to the wealth and resources of our region. In the recent crisis, we have witnessed how those States and the groups in their orbit have increased the level of incitement and heated the atmosphere of the crisis to achieve their own goals, while we hardly see any real role for them in alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people, such as the important and decisive role that Egypt has played in pressuring all parties to reach a ceasefire to protect the lives of innocent civilians from the Palestinian people.

This last idea leads us to another important point, or another important lesson that the Palestinians must bear in mind, which is that the Arab incubator of their cause ensured it to remain as the first Arab issue, and that trying to deny this incubator or to belong in the arms of regional powers such as Iran and Turkey will not serve their cause, but will harm it, because these countries trade in the suffering of the Palestinian people and do not care about their interests, as is the case with the Arab states that have entered into long wars in defense of the Palestinian right, and are now leading the battle for peaceful settlement to reach and confirm these rights.

The message is clear this time to all parties concerned with peace in the Middle East. It is that a comprehensive and just political settlement is the only inevitable path to achieving lasting peace and stability in the region. This is clearly manifested in the resumption of talks on the two-State solution as the basis for a settlement.

There is therefore a new opportunity to push the path of a peaceful settlement to its final destination, an opportunity that everyone, with the exception of extremists and radical forces, hopes to use this time to bring peace and prosperity to the region.