Our Secretary-General, William Morris LL.D., continues to discuss new political developments in his ongoing podcast series, “This Week in the Middle East”. In this week’s episode, William continues to speak about the Gaza War. So you are not going to have an international force. And Israel won’t stay. Nor can you get rid of the Gazans. So what then?  Listen to the full episode through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Buzzsprout or TuneIn + Alexa – or See all episodes. For those who prefer a written text, it is in full below:

Again I’m going to talk about Gaza. The last podcast I did on the subject created some strong reactions, particularly from one or two people in Israel who felt I had not expressed myself correctly when I talked of the Gaza situation, that I had not expressed enough sympathy for the children of Israel and the terrible situation that had happened.

Believe me, my heart bleeds bleeds for what has happened to so many of my dear friends. I’ve been traumatised by the events of October 7. And I was listening to some of the stories from a hospital worker who talked of some of the children who would come back from Gaza and how blank they were, how they found it difficult even to get up off a chair, like a little old people. And I can imagine the trauma of losing your parents and the terrible brutality of the raid on October 7.

Gaza too is facing a trauma. Trauma on trauma. And many innocent lives are being hurt. Innocent lives. And I realise the call in Israel is for stronger retribution, and that is the pressure that the government of Israel is under. Many Israelis regard this as an existential threat, but what happened on October 7 affected Gaza too. Gaza has been confined as a prison for decades. Somehow Israelis do not think of it. I think in many senses the Palestinians have become dehumanised and therefore the natural sympathy that we might otherwise feel if we were Israelis we are inured to by the threat Gaza represents.

However, there are a lot of questions questions that need answering and must be answered. What is the future of Gaza? One future I know that some advocate is the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. The removal of Gazans from Gaza. And I hope that’s not your daydream but if it is let me say that it is not an option. It’s not an option because it simply can’t happen for more than 2 million people. The population of Gaza is anybody’s guess of course. I mean people bandy around figures of 2.3 million. Nobody knows. You confine those people to South Gaza, south of Wadi Gaza, they will be in the most densely populated place on Earth. I don’t know if there are city centres in Tokyo that are so populated but certainly it will be pretty tight.

Some value the idea that the existing Palestinian authority could somehow take command after Israel. Well, that’s a nonstarter at least in its present form. The present Palestinian authority has not the strength or indeed the capacity to run Gaza. I don’t think so. I genuinely believe that you need a strong Gazan who is non-Hamas and who is respected by the Israelis to look after Gaza. I can’t see anybody but Mohammed Dahlan. He was much disliked when he had his death squads in Gaza years ago in Arafat’s times but one can but hope that he has matured. He was a young man then. He’s from southern Gaza. He has a client base in southern Gaza and lives in the Emirates. He has access to substantial Emirati backing. I can’t see anybody else. Show me somebody else. I mean there are other Gazans of prominence but they’re too old, like Nabil Shaath, a wonderful man but too old and not ruthless enough. No Gaza will have to be run by a Gazan and there’s no other choice. Mohammed Dahlan backs a government of technocrats for Gaza. Fine with him in the background. Fine.

You can’t get rid of Hamas by the way. Hamas is very popular and much of the population of Gaza supports Hamas. Not out of affection for Hamas but because their backs are against the wall. They will support Hamas but you can perhaps bring in Mohammed Dahlan and allow him to recruit Gazans, and have his own force that will establish stability in Gaza. I think that’s the only possibility for the future of Gaza. You are not gonna get an international force – that is a ridiculous idea. What you’re gonna get American troops on the ground? Israeli troops and soldiers are not gonna stay there. They sit within their tanks when they go through Gaza. Believe me, it’s very difficult. How are they getting rid of the tunnels? And fighting Hamas is hugely difficult but you can bring in a person to run Gaza.

A Peace Process?

The future of Gaza relates to the future of peace. Many people think that we have an opportunity for peace between Palestine and Israel and we do we have an opportunity for peace. I mean there were great opportunities in the past that have been squandered. Wye River. I go back to it. It was the next stage phase in the Oslo process when Clinton and Netanyahu were hand-in-hand with Yasser Arafat and had a chance at peace; but Netanyahu pulled out and didn’t implement Wye River despite the fact of it being an international agreement entered into by Israel. Israel does not necessarily honour its international agreements and in this instance, it did not; very unfortunately because if Wye River had been implemented, then we might not have had much of the trouble we’re going to face now in the West Bank and ongoing dealing with in Gaza. There were opportunities since Wye River, great opportunities that have been squandered by the Palestinian leadership who didn’t have the chutzpah to take it on the chin and run with the opportunity that was presented to them.   But there is a chance for a peace process now.

It’s very difficult because America is not interested. After all, it’s an election year. I hope that Biden might make it a crusade with Blinken and his team and push something through because it’s an election year in America. Elections in America in the UK where it’s election time and we do realise, all of us that are thinking people realise, that we are going to be faced with a new Anglo-American alliance a year down the line with Donald Trump as US president and Kir Starmer as British prime minister and it will be difficult to initiate a credible peace process under the good auspices of Donald Trump. But it is a time when peace could come forward and it hasn’t always depended on America. Remember Madrid. I know the Spanish are now persona non grata in Israel since the Spanish leadership supported Gaza and accused Israel of war crimes; but I’m just mentioning Madrid because that was a non-American-led process. And Oslo was not American-led. Oslo as you know was a kind of quasi-independent Norwegian effort so things can happen without America. Who else could be a broker? I don’t put it past Qatar you know. Qatar has done great work. Saudi Arabia if she could man up. I’m not sure Saudi Arabia would take the risk. Maybe an independent country like Switzerland. I say Switzerland because it’s one of the few country nations in the world that keeps sending its diplomats into Gaza and makes an effort. But we need everybody, all hands to the wheel, we need everybody to try and promote a peace process because we cannot allow this to go on. There has to be a peace process.

A One-State Solution

What’s the alternative by the way? Do you know what the alternative is? It’s a one-state solution and there is growing support for a one-state solution in Israel and Palestine and a one-state solution means what? Israel annexes the West Bank you have in effect an apartheid state. I know people are horrified to hear that phrase on the lips of anybody who believes in a better future for Israel. I believe in a better future for Israel. I am pro-Israel as well as pro-Palestine and you can be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine and you should be if you are a person of good conscious in this world. Yes I mean it’s possible to imagine Israel as a kind of colonial power ruling the West Bank and Gaza and taking dominion over its subject population the Palestinians and taking responsibility for a better life for them. I mean that’s what colonial powers do. Britain may have done very badly in India and it was quite ruthless in India but it certainly tried to make life better for the Indian population. That’s what we are lacking at the moment, traditional colonialism. So Israel has to be coaxed into becoming a colonial power with a one-state solution which means you’re paternalistic and caring. Or do you have a two-state solution? That is all there is. These are the only two options. Do you want to status quo? More misery and misery for Israel, for the children of Israel, and the children of Palestine, years and decades and decades down the line, like it has been. What’s the point?

Palestinian Leadership is needed

What we do need is a bit of Palestinian leadership. We are going to see the end of Netanyahu. Benjamin Netanyahu is in the last days of his government. It will last until an Israel election. It cannot last beyond. Benjamin Netanyahu is a busted flush because he allowed October 7 to happen. It is clear now there were warnings about October 7, cogent warnings, and Israel dismissed them as incredible, by that I mean non-credible. Israel was warned. Israel did not believe that it was possible and just dismissed the warnings. The minister of interior knew. Benjamin Netanyahu knew. These people knew and dismissed the warnings. Extraordinary don’t you think?

However, we cannot now go on with the current Palestinian leadership if we want a genuinely good peace process.  Why? Because Abu Mazen is too frightened to deliver peace; you need somebody who is courageous as the overall Palestinian leader. I still believe Marwan Barghouti who is the Nelson Mandela of Palestine would be the man and I think we have the opportunity. Hamas once agreed to ask for his release. They decided against it ostensibly because “Egypt asked them not to”. Well, what a joke. It wasn’t Egypt. They were frightened of asking for Marwan Barghouti (in exchange for Shalit) because he’s too popular. He is as you know accused on seven charges of murder. But you also know that the process of the trial was a little questionable. Sorry, I don’t mean to question Israeli Justice. But you know he is popular in Gaza. That’s why Hamas dropped him. Because he is too popular and he would threaten their popularity. Well, do you want an alternative to Hamas? Come on release Marwan Barghouti. Hamas actually should have the moral courage to ask for him anyway. Israel has released, by the way, people who are killers. They’ve just released a lady who knifed a soldier as one of the first hostage exchange releases, so that’s not the issue. The issue is I guess everybody is frightened of Marwan Barghouti because of his popularity. Well come on, we want a chance to resolve this thing.

And by the way, Marwan Barghouti is a backer of passive resistance, not violence. That has been very much his agenda since he’s been in prison. So that’s my opinion.

An imposed Solution

The other thing is that if you can’t negotiate we must have an imposed solution. I’ve said this before, if you can’t negotiate peace you have to have an imposed solution and an imposed solution means imposing a solution on Israel’s terms. Horrified at that idea are you? I’m sorry we need a solution that is something we can run with, we can sort out the rough edges later but we need a Palestinian state recognised by the state of Israel so that people can take responsibility.  You want Gaza a prison and to run your police state in the West Bank? Is that what you expect? Israel has to recognise the state of Palestine they can deal with or anex the West Bank and Gaza and deal with it themselves. And if negotiations fail, then impose a solution on your terms and then we’ll sort it out but there has to be a Palestinian state recognised by Israel.

A new Middle East

We want a new Middle East in which Israel and Palestine are shining gems that can enable people to be part of the brotherhood and sisterhood of mankind so that people can be one family in the Middle East. An end to this hostility. It is time for a new Middle East. The time for a better tomorrow is now and it means forgiving your enemies. It also means you can’t be too paranoid about seeking justice. There will never be justice for those who have lost family members, or just been displaced from their homes or suffered fear and trauma. No, justice has to take a backseat. What you can back is Fairplay, honest Fairplay from this point forward and that is worth fighting for and believing in.