The failure of force: an alternative option by Prince Hassan of Jordan

[DogPoundPup]

excerpt~

The moment

When all the factors of nationalism, ethnicity, religion and history are stripped away, what remains are the unresolved issues of sovereignty - both of Palestine and of Israel.

If this region is to develop an intra-dependency of sovereign states, we must first discuss issues of legitimacy, authority, and jurisdiction, and define these issues in terms of long-term goals. The carrot of economic cooperation cannot be held out as a substitute for political rights. Rather, a regional community for water and energy must be premised on its contribution to the human environment, dedicated to the preservation of human dignity, and beyond the reach of ideologues and corrupt politicians.

Such an initiative would require a carefully chosen "Track II" team of regional representatives, inclusive of civil society, academics, facilitators and others able to adopt a nuanced approach to the various issues. Their task would be twofold - to mediate, negotiate and facilitate with the necessary sensitivity, and to advance cooperation on the full range of trans-regional issues.

In brief, three steps are proposed. First, the implementation of an immediate ceasefire. Second, the establishment of a temporary international stabilisation agency to monitor and mediate between all parties on the ground. Third, a long-term Track II team to facilitate and support a sustainable negotiated settlement on all issues.

Our mutual survival demands a long-term and sustainable peace, and a recognition of interdependent sovereignties across the entire region. To continue to depend on the rule of force and on power as a deterrent will merely be to foster greater extremism.

Today, large numbers of people are suffering. To allow the conflict in Gaza to continue will be nothing less than an indication of moral bankruptcy; of the failure of those involved - of both parties to the conflict, of regional players, of the Quartet, the European Union, the United States and of the international community as a whole - to seize the moment, and act before it is too late.

Is the fertile crescent to become a futile crescent? Or can we, collectively, wake up and find the moral courage and political vision for a quantum-leap in Palestine?

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