The Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, confirmed that the brutal war waged by Israel against Gaza is in fact the fifth round since Israel’s unilateral separation from the Gaza Strip, without a peace agreement ending the conflict with the Palestinians, warning that rounds of violence may be repeated if this hellish cycle has not been broken through a peace process that leads to an end to the occupation.

Aboul Gheit's statements came during an expanded session entitled “New Initiatives to Achieve Peace,” within the framework of the “Manama Dialogue,” which is hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain and brings together an elite group of security officials, diplomats, and experts from the Arab region and various parts of the world.

Jamal Rushdi, the official spokesman for the Secretary-General, quoted Aboul Gheit as confirming that many believe that this crisis began on October 7 with Hamas’ attacks on Israel, while the root of the problem is the continuous Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967, stressing that Israel It wants to keep the land in all of Palestine, as well as obtain security and peace, and events over the years have proven the corruption of this perception.

Aboul Gheit considered that the path that led to the current situation began with the elimination of the peace process, the coup against the Oslo process, and the rise of the Israeli right in its various versions that became more extreme over the years, which worked to destroy any possibility of peace, weaken the Palestinian partner, and convince the Israeli people of the possibility of dealing with the problem of the Palestinians as a security problem, and that the occupation regime can be sustained by continuing to subjugate the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Aboul Gheit said that there are no new initiatives to achieve peace because the Arabs have already presented their initiative since 2002 under the name of the Arab Peace Initiative, which is based on the principle of land for peace and promises Israel normal relations with the countries of the region in the event of withdrawal from the lands occupied in 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He added that Israel has continued to reject this initiative since its launch, and that the time has come for Israeli leaders as well as the Israeli people to realize that the path to achieving security passes through a political settlement, and not the continuation of the occupation, as the Palestinians will not leave their land and their struggle for independence will continue as long as the occupation is on their chests. .

Rushdi explained that the Secretary-General of the Arab League was keen to categorically emphasize the danger of ideas that promote the displacement of Palestinians to neighboring countries, in Egypt or Jordan, stressing that this option represents a recipe for chaos, violence and long-term instability in the entire Middle East, and that the Palestinians and the Arab countries completely reject such a scenario of evacuating Palestine of its people and ethnically cleansing it.