Insight
Ending Europe’s inertia on Israel and Palestine by Beth Oppenheim, 2 June 2021 After 11 days of violence, Israel and Hamas have begun a ceasefire. But as long as Israel denies Palestinian rights and permanently occupies Palestinian territory, violence will reoccur. Europeans must think long-term, not just fire-fight during each round of violence. The world has a short attention span when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – heads turn when violence flares up. With a ceasefire in place, Israel and Palestine are already beginning to fade again from Europe’s foreign policy agenda. Israel and the Palestinian leadership have both created a false sense of ‘quiet’, a sense that the conflict is being managed, so Europeans do not see it as a serious risk to their security. The latest episode of violence is the result of Israel’s suppression of Palestinians’ fundamental rights and freedoms in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. Rocket fire from Gaza, while illegal and unacceptable, cannot be divorced from the broader political context of the conflict, and neither can international efforts to address the violence. De-escalation and a return to the status quo ante will not prevent future outbreaks. It is the status quo – and the international community’s toleration of it – that generates violence. This latest escalation was the worst since the 2014 war. Violence originated in East Jerusalem at the start of Ramadan on April 12th, when the Israeli authorities erected barricades at a popular Palestinian gathering place, sparking protests. In the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, Jewish settlers and ultra-nationalists disrupted protests by Palestinians against a planned eviction, and displacement by settlers. Throughout Ramadan, the Israeli police attempted to crush Palestinian protests in East Jerusalem, eventually storming the al-Aqsa mosque, one of the most significant and contested holy sites for Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem, on May 7th. Inter-communal violence broke out between Palestinians and Jewish ultra-nationalists throughout Jerusalem, spreading within the West Bank, where 27 Palestinians were killed and 6,381 injured. Since 2007, the Palestinian leadership has been split between the internationally-recognised government of President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, and the de facto Hamas government in Gaza. The EU, US and other countries designate Hamas as a terror organisation, and have a policy of ‘no contact’. Hamas issued an ultimatum to Israel, threatening rocket attacks if Israel CER INSIGHT: Ending Europe’s inertia on Israel and Palestine 2 June 2021
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