Israeli Opinion| We have to acknowledge the loss, so that the Palestinians will acknowledge us

By Hillel Schocken

We will not win, even if we are together [the slogan “Together we win” that Israeli institutions have raised since the beginning of the attack on Gaza]. We have actually lost, since October 7, in the battle currently taking place in Gaza, in defense of our right to a national homeland in the Land of Israel. Every additional day that passes during the ground maneuver reinforces this failure. When this terrible battle ends, a few weeks later, as a result of international pressure, as expected, Israel will find itself in a more difficult situation than the one it entered on the morning of the “barbaric attack” carried out by Hamas. Is it possible that one good thing can emerge from this failure? Perhaps ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, for example?

On October 16, the Israeli war cabinet announced the war’s goals: to undermine Hamas’ authority and eliminate its military capabilities; Eliminate the threat of “Gazan terrorism” towards Israel; Make every effort to resolve the hostage issue; Protecting the state’s borders and its citizens. At the end of the battle, we will not be able to achieve any of these goals.

Opinion polls indicate that our behavior in Gaza strengthens Hamas's position in the hearts of Palestinians, not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank as well. As for whoever wants to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, he will get it here in the West Bank as well. What appears to many to be a maximum effort to free the kidnapped has only partially succeeded, by freeing less than half of them, and every day that the battle continues, the lives of the majority of those remaining in captivity will be endangered. If a deal is actually reached to release these people, we will be forced to release all the Palestinian prisoners in our custody, whether they were arrested on charges of killing Jews or not, and we will also be forced to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and commit to ending the war. The leaders of Hamas, gentlemen, are not stupid. They will not agree to anything less. As for us, we will content ourselves with asking the friendly countries, sponsors of the agreement, to provide guarantees that Israel will not be attacked in the future.

Israel's international standing has actually deteriorated to an unprecedented low, which jeopardizes not only its relations with its friends, first and foremost the United States, but it also exposes Jewish communities around the world to danger, and makes Israelis isolated in the world, as if they were infected with a disease. Leprosy in the Middle Ages. In addition, our regional position has weakened dramatically. As for those who chant the “theory” that Hezbollah is deterred from attacking us, we have news for them: Israel is deterred. Our weakness in the face of Hezbollah was resoundingly confirmed when US President Joe Biden realized what was really happening, and he quickly sent a massive military force to the Mediterranean in order to protect us.

Despite the presence of American deterrence in the region, the organizations within Iran's orbit succeed in disturbing us. Hezbollah has turned tens of thousands of residents of the north into refugees in their country, while the Houthis have completely succeeded in cutting off the Israeli maritime supply line from the south. Thus, the day came when we saw Israel forced, today, to come to terms with what it considered in 1956 and 1967 to be a declaration of war against it.

Without justifying the "barbaric" Palestinian attack on the towns of the Western Negev, we must see in these attacks the current culmination of the violent Palestinian national struggle against the mere existence of the State of Israel, as the national homeland of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. Throughout 75 years of its existence, Israel has succeeded in curbing this Palestinian ambition to eliminate it, and to claim the right to Palestinian self-determination in the sovereign State of Palestine on the land between the sea and the river. Israel did this initially, by imposing military rule on the Palestinians within the Green Line, by repelling attacks directed at it across the armistice lines, and later, by military control of the residents of the areas occupied during the Six-Day War, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The long years that have passed since then have not made the Palestinians relax. The intensity of their opposition to the mere existence of the State of Israel inflicts an ever-increasing blood and economic price on both sides. In order for the current war not to be merely the beginning of larger waves of violence, and for Israel to remain a national homeland for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, Israel must consider the goal of eliminating Palestinian opposition to its existence as the highest strategic goal regulating its policies.

The Messianic movement in Israel hopes to achieve, “with God’s help,” this goal by displacing all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This movement believes that the mass killings in Gaza and the outbreak of settlers in the West Bank, which are taking place under the auspices of the Israeli authorities, aim to “encourage” Palestinians to migrate outside the borders of the area under Israel’s control, a step that means the ethnic cleansing of about 5 million Palestinians. It is difficult to imagine that the world, which will force Israel to stop the war in Gaza soon, in light of the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries, the unprecedented devastation, and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation on a brutal scale, will allow such a solution.

What happened in the Yom Kippur War, and the achievements achieved by the Egyptians in crossing the canal, led to Egypt regaining its dignity, which led to the signing of peace treaties. As for Israel's recognition of its loss in the ongoing war, based on the data described above, it will contribute to restoring the national dignity of the Palestinians, which has been trampled on for 56 years. Apparently, this is a necessary stage in a process that will lead to stopping the fighting in Gaza, and reaching an exchange deal, through which all Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for the release of all the kidnapped, whose fate depends on the period that will pass until Israel recognizes this reality. Israel will be forced to recognize the Palestinians' right to an independent, sovereign state, and to conduct negotiations with any leadership chosen by the Palestinians, to end the conflict, based on UN resolutions and the Saudi initiative. Is it possible that the disaster of October 7 heralds the birth of a new horizon in the Middle East?

Source: Institute of Palestine Studies