And perhaps one of the miracles of recent days is the truce which has been announced between Israel and Hamas and in turn consists of hostage and prisoner exchanges. It is also likely that the truce will be extended on a day-by-day basis depending on the results and outcomes of this current truce. At the onset of Israel’s recent attack on Gaza, it was not certain as to whether there would ever be a pause in fighting. The situation amounted to nothing short of an international crisis and dilemma. Washington’s wrongheaded position of not pushing for a ceasefire as was evinced in international settings such as the United Nations and so forth made it even less likely that there would be a pause in fighting which would then enable a hostage and prisoner exchange to occur. Nevertheless, for one reason or another – and it is perhaps worthwhile to pursue the true cause or reason for this truce – a truce and a hostage and prisoner exchange ended up coming about, and now there is hope that the truce and the deal-making can endure for at least a while.
As for the true causes or reasons for this current truce, they are perhaps complex and multifaceted. For one, the truce is a face-saving measure for the Israeli government in response to a very angry and hostile Israeli public. Of course, the international pressure on Israel was overwhelming and unprecedented. But we must put the international pressure on Israel aside for a moment and consider that Israel’s government had to first and foremost respond to its own people’s call and demand for a stop to the fighting and for a hostage and prisoner exchange. It is true that Israel’s attack on Gaza was a response to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. But this fact does not eclipse the broader reality, which is that both domestic and international pressure implies and suggests that the burden and onus was on Israel all along to handle this international crisis properly.
Moreover, the whole future of international affairs and international politics is going to be based on the kind of deal-making we have seen recently as a result of a post-hegemonic world. And one does not make deals with those who are already in one’s pocket. One makes deals with people whom one has considered as the enemy all this time, such as Cuba, Venezuela, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iraqi Shia militias, Iran, the Taliban, Russia, China, North Korea, and some others. To deal with these characters and groups is where most of the benefit and utility of deal-making will be derived from. That is just the way it is, whether for better or for worse.
Also, the West as a whole is going through an odd, awkward, and unwieldy transition as a result of a post-hegemonic world, and this transition will then impact certain policy positions such as the one pertaining to the Israel-Palestine conflict. In essence, the basic core and root of this conflict is absurdity and nonsense if one were to think deeply about it. We create such disasters and fiascoes because of a failed hegemonic policy, and then we do not address the causes or main reasons for the disasters and fiascoes. And in terms of the Israel-Palestine conflict, not only is the core and root of the conflict based on absurdity and nonsense, but given the absurd and nonsensical essence and nature of the conflict, the conflict then translates into the core dilemma and problem for the international community as a whole.
In sum, there is no other dilemma or problem for the international community that is greater or more problematic than the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is a pain in the ass for not only the Middle East, but also for China, Russia, and the West as well. And to put it bluntly, if nature is to take its course when it comes to solving this issue as it did with Afghanistan and some others instead of having our proactive involvement solve the problem before nature does, the natural result or outcome will not be favorable for Israel over the long run. But the perpetuators of this conflict want us vexed by this conflict, for a number of reasons which are largely petty and superficial in nature. For one, the perpetuators of this conflict wrongly assume that the world revolves around them, and they do not realize that the world is much broader and complex than the arrogance and delusion and pettiness which causes unnecessary headaches and problems for the whole world. Also, they have to keep perpetuating the conflict and the problem in order to keep the attention and focus on themselves. This is perhaps key to understanding the conflict as a whole. Through the attention-seeking and the pandering and support they get, they not only perpetuate the conflict and problem, but they recurrently drag the international community to the brink of Armageddon. But if these people do not continuously drag the world towards the brink of Armageddon, then they lose the attention and support which they feel entitled towards. But consider the recent result or outcome of the overall pattern of behavior and logic. Gaza can come out of the ruins with Western non-profit and UN and Gulf Arab support. But all is essentially lost for Israel. Both the reputation of Israel and Israel’s sense of invincibility is gone as a result of this recent crisis. Hence, we need a proactive approach towards this conflict once and for all, so that the results and outcomes are mutually beneficial for all parties involved and for the international community and international society as a whole.
Adam A. Azim 