(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What Peace in the Middle East Will Require [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-30 This is my response to questions I received about the potential for peace in the Middle East. These are the things I believe are necessary steps toward a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors, but that does not mean I think they are likely to happen. 1. An immediate cease-fire between Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Nothing else can happen until there is a cease fire. Fifteen hundred Israelis and 7,000 residents of Gaza are already dead. Revenge attacks will just lead to more incidents of revenge in an endless cycle. I am a member of Brooklyn for Peace and Historians for Peace and Democracy. Both groups call for an immediate cease fire. The United States must stop rearming Israel and broker the cease fire. There is currently a resolution in the House of Representatives co-signed by thirteen members urging “the Biden administration to immediately call for and facilitate de-escalation and a ceasefire” and “to promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.” 2. Hamas is a militaristic and fanatical gang. Palestinians in Gaza are its victims as much as the Israeli civilians massacred by Hamas on October 7. Iran and Qatar and a network of charities, banks, including Barclays, cryptocurrencies. and corporations, channel money to Hamas. The financial spigot must be completely choked off. Companies, countries, and individuals that continue to fund Hamas must become international pariahs. You can support formation of an independent Palestinian state and call for the ouster of Hamas at the same time. 3. Benjamin Netanyahu has got to be replaced as Israeli Prime Minister and his entire rightwing cabinet must resign. They are warmongers and expansionists who reject a peace settlement and a two-state solution. There can be no resolution until they are out of office. They are also incompetent, putting their own political power ahead of Israeli security. They didn’t prepare for the initial attack by Hamas and were caught unaware. There are suspicions that Netanyahu and his rightwing pro-settler allies helped empower Hamas for years to weaken the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and as an excuse to prevent founding of an independent Palestinian state. 4. The cease fire must be coupled with immediate negotiations between the new Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank to establish an independent Palestinian state within a reasonable time period, maybe as short as six months. Israel will have to give up illegal West Bank settlements on land occupied since the 1967 war. Israelis who insist on remaining there will become citizens of the new Palestinian state. Palestinians with land claims in Israel will have to pursue them in Israeli courts. The future of Jerusalem is more complex. I propose some form of joint Israeli-Palestinian administration. 5. The formation of an independent Palestine coupled with the financial starvation of Hamas and international pariah status should hasten its overthrown by the people of Gaza who could then choose to become part of the Palestinian State or establish their own entity. The people of Gaza, long the victims of Hamas, should put the leaders of the group on trial for its war crimes. 6. An international force including the United States, the United Nations, NATO, and troops from Islamic countries must be stationed in Israel and Palestine to protect borders for as long as necessary. An effort must be made to have normal relations between the United States and Iran so that Iran can be part of the solution, not part of the problem. For the United States, supporting the international force may prove less expensive than the three billion dollars it sends to Israel annually to support its defense systems. 7. We need a cease fire in the United States as well. Open discussion must be permitted in the media, on college campuses, and even in the U.S. Congress. Support for a cease fire and support for an independent Palestine as part of a two-state solution does not mean you approve of Hamas or terrorism. Opposition to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and keeping 2.3 million people trapped in Gaza does not mean you are justifying the slaughter of 1,500 people by Hamas and their holding over 200 as hostages. Denouncing the Israeli bombing campaign as a human rights violation and war crime because of the death of civilians does not mean you support what Hamas did to Israeli civilians. I don’t expect these things to happen, but I also do not see another possible solution to a war between Israel and Hamas that threatens to expand and threaten the entire region. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/30/2202602/-What-Peace-in-the-Middle-East-Will-Require?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/