Just peace
The world has witnessed one year of escalating barbarism. Each day we are moving closer to global destruction. In response, people are gathering to demand a cease fire and a US arms embargo on Israel. We are longing for a just path to peace. Yet those in authority continue to justify death and destruction.
The U.N. Secretary-General, António Guterres, issued a sober assessment of where the world stands today. He began by repeating his “utter condemnation” of the attacks by Hamas and the taking of hostages saying, “nothing can justify such acts.” He then concluded:
The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza are unlike anything in my years as Secretary-General. Nothing can also justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Over the past year, virtually the entire population of Gaza has been displaced — many of them several times — with nowhere safe to go. Half of the homeless are children.
All are surviving in appalling conditions with very limited access to food, water, sanitation, shelter and health care. All are in constant fear for their lives.
In the face of this destruction, international humanitarian law is in tatters. And let’s be clear: Violations by one side cannot be used to justify violations by the other.
Guterres went on to emphasize the spread of Israeli aggression in the West Bank explaining:
Some 700 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have been killed since 7 October 2023 — the highest number on both sides in more than two decades. The construction of new settlements, land-grabs, demolitions and settler violence all continue.”
He then acknowledged the possibility of an ever-widening war, saying
Monday was the bloodiest day in Lebanon since 2006. Today, Israel Defense Forces struck civilian buildings in Beirut, saying they had targeted Hizbullah’s main headquarters located underneath. War in Lebanon could lead to further escalation involving outside powers.
He concluded his remarks with a plea:
The death spiral must end — for Gaza, for the people of Palestine and Israel, for the region and for the world. International humanitarian law must be respected. Civilians — and civilian infrastructure — must be protected. Aid must flow freely and safely. And there must finally be accountability.
The key to peace in the region is a political solution.
The response from the Israeli government was swift. He is not welcome there. Secretary Guterres is persona non grata.
Yet Mr. Guterres reminds us that we have the capabilities of acting on behalf of human dignity and human rights. The destruction we are enabling is the result of political choices, not natural conditions. It will continue as long as we use force to foster illegitimate relationships.
Nadim Houry, Lebanese researcher and executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative, offered a sweeping understanding of the depth of this conflict and said, “This overwhelming use of force cannot change people’s agency.” Resistance will continue until we address the root causes of injustice. He explains,
There are two central questions that as long as they’re not resolved, the Middle East is not going to know peace. The first one is the Palestine question. And the second one is a question that has been central to the region since 1979, which is: What is the legitimate place of Iran?
He goes on to make clear the choices we could make:
If the region is to know proper peace, we need to answer these two questions. You know, either the Palestinians get a full independent state, a sovereign state, à la two-state solutions, which is what the Arab countries are pushing for, or they get full citizenship in one state, Jews and Arabs treated exactly the same. And you also — you know, that equation has to be resolved; otherwise — and this is what October 7th reminded us — there can be no peace. There will be forms of armed resistance. Some you may like, some you may call terrorism, but there will be armed resistance as long as the Palestine question is not resolved in this region.
Even the short history we have experienced since the Iranian Revolution reminds us that we cannot “bomb our way to peace.” The will to justice finds a way to life.