Aqaba accord
Some news of consolation for the stateless Palestinians. Israel, in a departure from its encroachment policy, has promised to halt authorisation of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Though the timeline of relief is merely six months, as it is meant to avoid any untoward incident during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, it is nonetheless a promising precedent in sight. The understanding reached between Israel and Palestinian is a first of its kind in the last many decades, and has come under the good-offices of Jordan. The fact that the United States has facilitated the move and sent in its Mideast adviser, Brett McGurk, to Aqaba is worth appreciating.
Israel has conventionally been trigger-happy when it comes to addressing the territorial disputes. The massacre in Jenin recently, in which more than 15 people were slaughtered, hints at its criminalised mindset. Reports also say around 200 persons were killed in the year 2022, as political resolve to the two-state solution has been in doldrums. Moreover, this understanding has also come with Egypt’s backing, and coincides with the UN Security Council statement castigating Israel’s settlements policy on occupied Palestinian territories. A glance at Aqaba understanding also brings to the fore the new policy perspective wherein Washington itself has allowed the UNSC to take action against its ally Israel in six years.
The intention is to pledge de-escalation in an earnest attempt to broker a long-term solution to the imbroglio. It has been a while since any negotiated aspect had clicked, and any of the guarantors were ever honoured by the Jewish state. The need is to further the Abraham Accord’s perceptual context, wherein Israel is eager for peace with Arab states, and for that the beginning has to be made from Palestinian usurped lands. Freeing 2 million inmates of Gaza, the world’s biggest open-sky concentration camp, and scrapping settlements policy on both the banks of Jerusalem is the way to go. This is how coexistence can set in, and bring in some aura of credibility to Israel in its regional policy.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2023.
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