Unpopular as it may be, peace is the solution in Gaza

Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians was barbaric, cowardly and stupid, but reactions to it have fallen far short of being useful in bringing an end to years of violence in and around Israel and the Palestinian territories.  

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That also seems to define the Israeli-Palestinian issue, which has been in a cycle of outrage, followed by violence, followed by unresolved quiet until the next act of violence, for decades.  

Initial reactions in Israel and elsewhere suggest that cycle — and insanity — will continue without courageous and creative leadership from within and outside the region. 

It is understandable that blood is up in the wake of Hamas’s atrocities against Israeli civilians. Hamas has earned retribution against its leaders and fighters and Israel is preparing to deliver it. President Biden and his administration, as well as members of Congress, have made clear they support Israel going after Hamas personnel, but Biden has also put down public markers about Israel’s obligation to avoid to the extent possible harming civilians in Gaza.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made those points in Israel and presumably in his visits to regional capitals since the massacre, where he reportedly is also seeking to prevent conflict in Gaza from spreading to the wider region. 

Regardless of how much Hamas deserves retribution, no one in Israel or the U.S. should be under any illusion that the problem of violence on or within Israel’s borders can be solved through force. The Palestinian issue is some 75 years old and there has been violence of various sorts from various quarters over those years, but the problem persists.  

Yet another Israeli incursion into, or even occupation of, Gaza is not going to eliminate the endless — and insane — cycle of outrage and violence. Increasing tensions on the West Bank well before the Hamas outrages in Israel underscores that the status quo is not peacefully sustainable. 

There are two sides to the still unresolved Israeli-Palestinian issue, which covers Gaza and the West Bank. Neither can vanquish the other through force of arms, population displacement or pressure combined with inattention. Negotiations have been shown to work, albeit imperfectly. 

While violence in Gaza in the short term is unavoidable, U.S. diplomacy needs to go beyond winning an agreement for humanitarian aid. U.S. diplomacy needs to return to negotiations for long-term peace. Sustainable peace will, perforce, be based on a two-state solution. 

That idea is anathema to Hamas and the radically extreme members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent coalition cabinet, but it is the only viable way forward to a durable, long-term peace. Violence as the sole response to violence only increases grievances and sets the stage for future conflict, but negotiations can ensure Israel and a Palestinian state will have a stake in each other’s security and success. It will also complete the integration of Israel into the region, which began with the Camp David Agreement and continued with the Abraham Accords.  

Pursuing negotiations in the wake of Hamas’s atrocities and with the current tensions on the West Bank may infuriate some on both sides. Nonetheless, the current certainty of violence in Gaza presents opportunities for peace. Exploiting those opportunities will take gutsy leadership and creative diplomacy.   

Israel’s Arab neighbors and important Arab Gulf states do not like Hamas, but they will be concerned about dealing with the public outrage that will be sparked in their countries by the inevitable images of bombed buildings and injured or dead civilians that are bound to come of out any Israeli attack in Gaza, no matter how much Israelis try to avoid such casualties. 

A Biden administration commitment to pursue peace negotiations diplomacy can encourage those governments to keep the violence from spreading in the region, but also make it incumbent upon them to support the negotiations — and down the road to make security and economic commitments to both sides that will be important to a sustainable agreement.    

In addition to galvanizing support from Arab states for containing violence, the revival of a negotiating track on the Arab-Israeli issue can give voice to and a platform for the silent majority in Gaza and the West Bank that want stability, a decent life for their children, freedom from Israeli occupation and responsible governance. Extremists in Palestinian groups and among Israeli politicians have silenced this majority in pursuit of their own goals. More violence will not change that, but diplomacy and negotiations can. 

The conventional wisdom in the U.S., judging by many op-eds and political statements, is currently focused on Israel’s right to exact retribution for the unacceptable horrors of Hamas’s attack. This needs to change. The durable Israeli-Palestinian equation is that violence followed by violence eventually equals yet more violence. 

To break the insanity, the Biden administration should take the lead in returning the region’s focus to the diplomacy of negotiations for a two-state solution — and should be supported in doing so by the members of Congress and the public. As it has been in the past, such peace diplomacy will be the work of years, not months, but it needs to start now.    

A new U.S. diplomatic initiative for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations would help contain the current cycle of violence and is the only likely path to lasting peace and stability. Such an initiative would also be a lasting tribute to all those whose lives were brutally cut short by, and in the wake of, Hamas’s massacre. 

Ken Brill is a retired Foreign Service Officer who served as an ambassador in the Clinton and Bush Administrations.