The Middle East was once again engulfed in flames on October 7, 2023, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the October War. The Qassam Battalions, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, launched a surprise attack on Israeli settlements and Kibbutzim from land, air, and sea. They killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took many more as prisoners. The world was stunned by this unprecedented operation, which provoked fierce aggression from the Israeli air force. Gaza was bombarded mercilessly, resulting in massive casualties and destruction among the Palestinians. The international community condemned both sides for the escalation of violence and called for an immediate ceasefire. But what drove Hamas to carry out such a daring and risky act? Did they not anticipate the harsh and brutal response from "Israel"? Did they not expect the unconditional support of the United States for "Israel"? To answer these questions, we need to go beyond the political games and look for the deeper motives and roots of this issue. 

The political roots of this issue go back to the creation of "Israel" in 1948 and the subsequent occupation of parts of Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Since then, the world has witnessed a series of disputes over sovereignty, borders, security, religion, and identity that have fueled the Palestinian crisis. "Israel" has ignored the political pressure and continued to seize Palestinian lands and build settlements. The United Nations has repeatedly denounced this as illegal and a gross violation of international law. For example, Resolution 2334 of 2016 states that Israeli settlements have no legal basis. However, "Israel" does not care about these resolutions and claims historical and religious rights to the land based on the "promise of God to Abraham and his descendants". Obviously, this is not a valid argument from a legal and political perspective. Moreover, "Israel" ignores the fact that most of the Jews who live in "Israel" today have no ancestral connection to the land and were brought there from different countries by Jewish agencies with various incentives.

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The US has not shown enough seriousness or impartiality to resolve the Palestinian issue. On the contrary, the Trump administration undermined the two-state solution that was accepted by the international community. It moved the US embassy to Al-Quds (Jerusalem), recognized "Israel’s" sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, and proposed the so-called “deal of the century” that favored "Israel’s" interests and denied the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. The Biden administration has not done much to reverse these policies or to revive the negotiations. As a result, the world has turned a blind eye to the diplomatic means of resolving the Palestinian issue, and no important resolution has been issued by the United Nations to stop "Israel’s" illegal settlement expansion since Trump's presidency. This has led to the death of the idea of two states and the escalation of violence in the region.

The failure of the two-state solution and the complete siege of Gaza by "Israel" and Egypt have pushed the Palestinians to the brink of despair and desperation. The diplomatic channels have been closed and political radicalism has taken up leaving no option left for Palestinians but to resist and fight. The Israeli settlement expansion, which is ignored by the international community in the face of the war on Gaza, has reached a point where the Palestinians have no space or buffer zone to live in peace and dignity. The settlements have encircled Gaza and the West Bank, cutting them off from each other and the rest of the world. Palestine has become an island of misery and oppression in its own land.

The world is witnessing the reopening of an old wound in the Middle East, but it does not question the failure of diplomacy. How can the Palestinians be expected to negotiate and dialogue when the plans imposed on them by the US and its allies disregard their rights and interests? The logic that prevails in this conflict is that power makes right. This is what the US has always believed and what its European partners tacitly endorse. They do not ask themselves why they condemn the use of force by the Palestinians but justify it by the Israelis. They do not ask themselves if they would accept the same logic in their own border and territorial disputes in Europe, Caucasus, and South and East Asia. Or maybe they think that force is a neutral element until they see who uses it: the good side (Israelis) or the bad side (Palestinians)!