Israelis who lost the peace, like Nadav Tamir, political advisor to the late Shimon Peres during his presidency of Israel (from 2007 to 2014), now see, paradoxically, that another opportunity is opening up for a peace process, although after the offensive Israel’s ground in Gaza.
Oslo 1993, peace in sight, Gaza 2023, war in sight. Why has everything gone wrong?
First, it is important for your readers to know the tragedy that Israel suffered on October 7. It is an unprecedented trauma. We had the Yom Kippur war in 1973, when Israel was surprised by Egypt and Syria, with many casualties, but they were soldiers. This time they were civilians, children, elderly or young people who were at a party. They were brutally murdered or kidnapped. Barbarism in a dimension that we had not suffered since the Holocaust. But coming to your question, what happened after Oslo is that the leadership did not pursue the process. We had the assassination of Rabin (1995) and the subsequent government was not interested in peace. And we were stuck in a situation where the Palestinians ruled their main cities, but they were not really free. Many Israelis thought: we’re fine now. We can live with this. One of the tragedies is that when there is no terrorism, people take things for granted. Why are we going to touch anything? And when there is terrorism, like now, people say: how are we going to make agreements with terrorists!
Do you see alternatives to Hamas in Palestine?
There are enough Palestinians who want a diplomatic solution and do not believe in terrorism. We have to give these people hope. I hope this tragedy turns into action. Action, of course, has the military component of striking Hamas and dismantling its capabilities, but also sparking diplomatic action, in which we eventually reach an agreement on the basis of the two-state solution. With elections in Palestine that give legitimate authority for both Gaza and the West Bank. I am sure that in the event of elections, Hamas will lose its popularity because one of the reasons for its growth was that many Palestinians lost faith in diplomacy.
It doesn’t seem simple…
My message to the international community is twofold: support Israel in this tragic moment, understand the rage and right to self-defense and attack Hamas, and, on the other hand, help us with a negotiation that revives the two-state solution.
That is, can this war bring peace?
I think in history, crises and tragedies always create opportunities for people to reevaluate and step out of their comfort zone. It is hard for the Israelis to see it this way, but I think the responsibility of the international community is to understand some things: they cannot ignore the Palestinian issue. The Palestine component must be included. We have to strengthen the moderate Palestinians. And stop repeating the two states like a mantra, but act for it. Use this tragedy to turn it into an opportunity, especially now that the US has understood that it could not be absent from this region to concentrate on Asia, as was its fantasy.
I don’t see people of peace leading both sides, do you?
We have to think beyond Hamas and Netanyahu. Now, we are all in solidarity with the prime minister, but the day after, people know that we need another leadership. This one has failed us.
Hamas cannot be explained without the support of Iran.
One of the triggers on October 7 was Iran’s fear of the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. They have wanted to interfere, as happened after Oslo. We can no longer allow extremists to derail a peace process.
Are the Abraham Accords positive for stability?
For Trump and Netanyahu (the architects) it was a way to bypass the Palestinians, but at the same time it can be a tool to balance and promote agreements. Many far-right Israelis who said all Arabs were terrorists are now delighted to travel to Dubai. There is room to convince the Israelis that it is in their interest to normalize the relationship with the Palestinians.
What is Hamas’s game with the hostages?
Hamas wants to defer the ground operation by giving things to the Qataris, to the Americans. The US is trying to explain to the Israeli Government that the priority should be the kidnapped people, and I know that they are working intensely, together with the Egyptians and Qataris, to influence Hamas.
That won’t prevent the attack.
The Americans are not asking for that either, they are not talking about a ceasefire or postponing the attack… It is a complicated game. For me, bringing them back has to be the first of Israel’s priorities. To punish Hamas, we can do it later, it doesn’t have to be now.
In this 21st century, Israeli peacekeepers like you have been wiped off the map.
And so this tragedy has come. For the peace side to be strong again in Israel, international help is needed. Israel’s friends in the US and the EU must lend us a hand, giving us warmth today and at the same time pushing for an agreement.
