World News: Gaza, Martyrdom and Political Object

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Category: World News

Published on Sunday, 21 January 2024 12:59

Written by Olivier Longhi

While the fighting in the Gaza Strip is still raging, some are wondering how long the conflict will last. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, aware of his strengths and support, also knows a long confrontation remains to his advantage.

It is highly likely, if not certain, that the conflict between Hamas and Israel will continue throughout 2024. The two belligerents, respectively sure of their fact, have no intention of retreating in the light of the current facts. Hamas, though trapped in the Gaza Strip, will not abandon its supreme goal, which is the destruction of Israel, or at the very least, actively participate in it.

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The armed group, which can count on the Shiite militias of Hezbollah based in southern Lebanon, also knows that its military tactics, based on the harassment of the Jewish state, tend to exacerbate Israeli opinion that is not without questions about the operation carried out by the IDF. At the same time, Israel, also convinced of its legitimacy in this operation, does not intend to abandon its objectives, even at the cost of dozens of Gazan civilian casualties.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who personally took charge of this conflict, also knows how to stake his political future on the outcome of a conflict that is based on a rhetoric that is as simple as it is martial: Israel's security depends on the destruction of Hamas. Two ideological blocs are now facing each other. However, the tug-of-war, with its many collateral casualties, could be resolved if Israel accepted a so-called two-state solution.

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Election Year and Negotiation

Except that Tel Aviv has no intention of giving in to this option, despite the fact that it is supported by the United States and the Biden administration, which are forced to come to terms with Benjamin Netanyahu's demands, for a simple reason: the year 2024 is an election year in the United States.

It is therefore necessary for Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken, his Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to reach a solution before November. This is unlikely given the stubbornness of Benjamin Netanyahu, who ultimately has every interest in using the support of the United States, even if Donald Trump were to reoccupy the White House from January 2025. Because the latter would have no hesitation in supporting Benjamin Netanyahu in his objectives.

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While for the Biden administration, securing a ceasefire to engage in negotiations, which would result in rehabilitating the 1993 Oslo Accords signed between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabbi, is a priority, it is less so, if at all, for Israel; The Hebrew State has, oh so much, understood that time was on its side, whoever the future occupant of the White House might be. Between disproportionate military action and cynicism, Benjamin Netanyahu knows how to hold his main ally by obligations that are both political and historical.

Purpose & Stability

Does this mean that Benjamin Netanyahu's war will be never-ending, at least as long as the physiognomy of it does not take the form that the Israeli Prime Minister expects? Is it up to each person to answer the question in the light of their convictions?

Yet, in the meantime, the deafening silence of the surrounding Arab countries should worry Israel. While the risk of the latter intervening in the name of pan-Arabism, which has never really succeeded in structuring itself, remains low, the potential for a conflagration in the region with direct consequences on geopolitical balances and especially on the conditions of oil extraction and transport could ultimately irritate the United States, which are reluctant to be deprived of social stability.

It was acquired by coercion, and heavy financial revenues, and induce them to show more vehement than they are at present. Thus, the war waged by Benjamin Netanyahu, more than a human tragedy, runs the risk of inflaming an entire region that aspires only to peace.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.