Instead, Israel pursues colonial and hegemonic ambitions in the Middle East, aiming to acquire more territory and split nation-states around it, especially in the Levant, on a sectoral basis. These goals will have ominous regional and global consequences if left unaddressed by the International and Arab communities.
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu ignored international calls for a ceasefire, disregarding pleas for substantial humanitarian aid and assistance with the post-ceasefire period towards a two-state solution. He flagrantly initiated a plan to occupy all of Gaza under the guise of combating Hamas. Netanyahu even criticized neighboring states for not allowing Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombing to enter their territories.
Moreover, the Prime Minister openly affirmed on Israeli television his embrace of generational, religiously-motivated ambitions for a “greater Israel” - a phrase often used to include Palestine and other territories in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and beyond.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar publicly stated that creating a Palestinian state would be suicidal for Israel, again trying to use the false ‘security threat argument’ to justify policies. He arrogantly criticized states that recently recognized Palestine or announced their intention to do so.
Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank intensified, with aggressive settlers as expanding housing development. Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich announced the Israeli government’s approval to implement the infamous and previously frozen E1 settlement project. In his words, this move would “permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state” by connecting Jerusalem to the settlement of Maale Adumim, permanently splitting the West Bank in half and making a future Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem virtually impossible.
Indiscriminate Palestinian deaths in Gaza continued to surpass 100 daily, including the targeted killing of local journalists. The death toll exceeded 60,000, with casualties reaching 150,000. Humanitarian aid for Gaza remained symbolic and sporadic - “a bucket in the ocean,” as described by an international aid worker.
Israel’s actions make it blatantly obvious that it seeks the subjugation or displacement of Palestinians. Arab Islamic states have vehemently challenged this position, but they and the rest of the world should also insist on receiving an official and codified Israeli denial of these aspirations. Furthermore, they must politically confront repeated Israeli incursions into neighboring states under any pretext.
Alarmingly, Israel continues on this path in clear violation of human rights through extended occupation of territory, genocide, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and outright targeting of civilians and health services.
In response, Arab criticism of expansionist Israeli policies has intensified, including from countries with formal peace agreements, those parties to the Abraham Accords, and leading Arab peacemakers. These Israeli positions have also generated an increasing belief amongst Arab communities throughout the region that Israel does not want peace and that its policies constitute a tangible threat to their security.
Global retribution against Israeli transgressions has expanded, as these actions diminish the limited prospects of peace, raise regional security concerns and erode the remaining credibility of the imperfect global order. However, retributions alone are insufficient. Consequential measures are imperative from both the Arab world and the international community. The Israeli body politic must witness and feel the political, security, and socioeconomic costs of its belligerency, which has chosen to become a pariah state acting beyond international norms.
For this to occur, states must reject or directly challenge the Israeli fallacy that criticism of its policies equates to antisemitism. Israel must recognize that it cannot achieve sustained security at the expense of Arab states and that a prerequisite for security and normal relations in peace is the realization of a Palestinian State. Notably, every Arab-Israeli peace agreement was initiated by an Arab state. The Beirut Arab Summit Peace initiative, proposed over two decades ago and still standing, openly embraced normal regional relations in exchange for ending the occupation.
Crucially, the international community must hold Israel accountable for its violations of international humanitarian law. States that apply double standards or are compromised by political expediency are complicit in the erosion of international norms that the global community has spent generations developing since the end of World War II.
The world should recognize that apathy or inaction in the face of continued Israeli transgression will have multifold ramifications, both in the Middle East and beyond. Regional communities will lose hope in peaceful conflict resolution, while international norms and institutions will lose credibility and efficacy.
Either we compel Israel to respect international law and equal rights for Palestinians, or much more than the prospects of peace in the Middle East will be at risk and destroyed.
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*The writer is Egypt's former foreign minister.
*The article is published in collaboration with Future for Advanced Research & Studies, a UAE-based think-tank.
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