PAlmost a year after the terrorist attack by Hamas, which the European Union (EU) strongly condemned, the situation remains, strictly speaking, catastrophic from both a humanitarian and political point of view. And unfortunately, no prospects seem to be emerging.
In this endless night, the success of the polio vaccination campaign for the Palestinian population in Gaza appears as a small glimmer of hope. It proves, once again, that humanitarian and UN organizations have a vital role to play in containing the effects of this catastrophe.
The EU is doing everything it can to alleviate the suffering of civilians. It also fully supports the continued efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a ceasefire. But the ceasefire agreement, a prerequisite for the implementation of the Biden plan, has still not been signed and does not seem likely to be in the near future.
Intransigence and total impunity
Why? Simply because those who are waging war have no interest in ending it, as if their political survival were more important than anything else. So they pretend. Less and less, in fact. And those who pay the price are not only the Palestinian civilian populations, but also the Israeli hostages. Their intransigence is accompanied by total impunity: but if actions have no consequences, if the flagrant violation of international humanitarian law remains ignored, if institutions such as the International Criminal Court are threatened, if the judgments of the International Court of Justice are totally ignored by the promoters of a rules-based order, who can we trust?
Less than six months ago, we were seriously talking about the “day after” because we all knew that there is no military solution to an eminently political conflict. However, today, the “day after” keeps moving away, like a mirage in the desert.
Not only is the war in Gaza unabated, but what is looming on the horizon is its extension to the West Bank, where the radicals want to implement the same methods as in Gaza: by increasing the violence, by inciting provocation and then responding with force, and by not hesitating to tell the world that the only way to achieve a peaceful settlement is to annex the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The West Bank could very quickly become a new Gaza. Just as Gaza could become a new West Bank, because some settlers are considering re-establishing themselves there.
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Source: Lemonde
