Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said recently that Hamas must have “no role” in governing Gaza in the future and called on the militant group to hand over its weapons to the Palestinian authority. He added “What we want is one unified state without weapons, a state with one law and one legitimate security forces,” he said.

Where things stand now make it difficult to predict anything. However, in an “all things considered” approach, the Palestinians are globally more supported now than any time before. However, The US remains opposed to the recognition of statehood and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “there will be no Palestinian state.”

It was on Oct. 7, 2023, that Hamas militants launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking civilian hostages. Naturally, Israel declared war on Hamas in response, launching a ground invasion that fueled the biggest displacement in the region since Israel’s creation in 1948. In the Gaza Strip, Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars, killing tens of thousands and plunging at least half of the population into “famine conditions.” However, Israel has resisted pressure from Western allies to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave. The U.S., however. continued supporting Israel with weapons, funds, and has vetoed or abstained from the United Nations’ ceasefire resolutions.

“A Palestinian state will not be established,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a formal statement. However, the growing list of nations recognizing a Palestinian state reflects how the bloodshed and upheaval following the Hamas attacks have shaken up a long-static diplomatic positions. Many agree that the move should be seen as part of an overall package which would hopefully takes us from the appalling situation, we’re in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, and a viable Palestinian state.”

The British Balfour Declaration of 1917 had been one of the first and most consequential calls for a Jewish “homeland” to be carved out of the mandate territories. And many of the laws that Israel still uses to detain Palestinians without judicial oversight date to the British mandate period. I still remember a poem by the legendary Egyptian author. Hafiz, which poetically states his view about this. “When he who does not own gave, he who does not deserve”. Speaking of my memories when I still lived in Egypt is the memory of the Arab Israeli war. half a century ago. specifically, after the 1967 Arab Israeli war and the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 242. That resolution established the principle by which Israel would give up territory it gained in the war in exchange for peace and security.

What is truly frustrating is that the Israelis and the Palestinians have come close to reaching a land-for-peace agreement on more than one occasion. But over the course of the past three to four decades, diplomacy has failed, in large part because Palestinian leaders, Yasir Arafat, the former president of the Palestinian Authority, and also his successors were unwilling or unable to accept what Israel offered in terms of territory, the status of Jerusalem, and the ability of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

Mohey Mowafy