GAZA IS AT ODDS AGAIN

The most protracted and painful conflict in the Middle East is getting increasingly dangerous and can ignite yet another regional war. The clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip were the largest in recent years.

The Great March of Return

A new cycle of violence has engulfed Palestine since the end of March. At least 17 Palestinians were killed with hundreds of people injured by Israeli forces during the demonstrations on the borderline between Gaza and Israel.

Tel Aviv insists that there was no use of force against the civilians in the Gaza Strip because the Israeli army reacted not against the civilians but the Hamas activists and other Palestinian organisations fighting against the Jewish state. The official statement of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) indicates that during the recent riots in Gaza, "at least ten terrorists with a known history of terrorist activity" were killed." However, the Hamas group ruling in the Gaza Strip claims that only five of the killed individuals were members of the organisation's armed wing.

The head of the Palestinian National Authority and leader of the Fatah movement, Mahmoud Abbas, said that Israel was responsible for the violence. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the Jewish state protects its sovereignty and its citizens.

The unrest began after thousands of Palestinians took part in the Great March of Return on the border with Israel demanding to return Palestinian refugees to native lands. The protest movement should end on May 15, the day when the Palestinians commemorate al-Naqba ("Catastrophe"), the expulsion of Palestinians in 1948, just the day after the establishment of the State of Israel.

The date of the Great March of the Return coincides with the 70^th anniversary of Israeli occupation. Therefore, we can expect that the situation at the Israel-Palestine border will be uneasy at least until May 15, although the regional situation has long become explosive and can trigger a new great war. On April 9, Israeli air force attacked one of the objects of Hamas, ruling in the Gaza Strip. Israel explained this military action as a measure to counter a group of Palestinian militants attempting to violate the border.

However, all these events are only a consequence of events inherent to the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation. The motivation of protesting Palestinians and the nature of ongoing clashes around the Gaza Strip are directly related to the essence of the longstanding conflict on the area, which all three religions recognise as a holy land. In fact, the original cause of the conflict lies in the unresolved issue of territorial delimitation between Jews and Palestinian Arabs.

About five million Palestinians and their descendants have become refugees as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict. They had to leave not only their land but also property in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the territories that currently belong to the State of Israel. Palestinian refugees live both in the Palestinian Authority and in many other countries of the world. Despite such a large mass of Palestinian refugees, Israel does not recognise their right to return, especially to the territory of Israel, understanding that this could lead to the loss of the majority status of Jews in Israel.

According to international legal instruments and as a result of mediation efforts of world powers, the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is possible through the principle of two states, Israel and Palestine (including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip). However, this option is currently unrealisable due to Jewish settlements in the West Bank, as well as the issue of East Jerusalem, which, according to UN decisions, should be the capital of the future Palestinian state.

Supported by the United States, Israel considers Jerusalem its undivided capital. Moreover, Washington has openly recognised the whole of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thereby undermining the efforts of the international community to resolve this prolonged conflict based on internationally recognised norms and principles. At the same time, most of the international community sharply condemns the use of force against the Palestinians, the participants of the Great March of Return.

The world calls for peace

The League of Arab States and Arab countries have separately condemned the actions of the Israeli army. In particular, the Jordanian parliament appealed to the international community to stop the suffering of Palestinians and to allow them to restore their legitimate rights.

Iran also condemned Israel. During the recent ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, stated the need for a collective action within the UN framework, the creation of an international mechanism for investigating the recent tragic events in Palestine, prosecution of responsible individuals, and most importantly, an independent Palestinian state.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is well known for his irreconcilable position on Israeli policy. He accused Israel of "terrorism" and "inhuman attacks," calling the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu "an invader" and "a terrorist."

By the way, the aggravation of regional situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone can have negative implications on the recent symptoms of the relative normalization of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv. Erdogan's statement and Netanyahu’s equally harsh response condemning Turkey's foreign policy can undermine Turkish-Israeli relations, which are far from being promising.

Meanwhile, Russia also criticised Israel's "indiscriminate use of force against the civilian population" but expressed its readiness to be an intermediary between Israel and Palestine.

Several European countries expressed their discontent with the actions of the Israeli army against the Palestinians. In particular, France, which has long been known as a traditional critic of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, called on the Israeli authorities to demonstrate a restrained position in response to recent riots on the border with the Gaza Strip and reminded Tel Aviv of "the Palestinians' right to peaceful demonstration."

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, also questioned the actions of the Israeli army. "Although Israel has the right to defend its borders, the use of force must be proportional at any time," said Mogherini and called for an independent investigation of the clashes on the Israeli-Palestinian border.

The reaction of the international community to the latest clashes between Israelis and Palestinians was a part of discussion held at the UN Security Council. The U.S. was the only state that blocked the Security Council’s draft statement condemning Israel's actions. Palestinian leadership characterised the American position as "insensitive and irresponsible." This is yet another sign of the total distrust of Palestinians towards the U.S. and their mediation mission in the settlement of the conflict. This distrust has further strengthened after the U.S. President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and decided to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. At the same time, Palestine stated that from now on it would not accept Washington as a mediator in the negotiations with Israel. So, the demarche of the American diplomacy in the UN, which vetoed the resolution condemning Israel and thus opposed the Great March of Return, only aggravated the American-Palestinian situation. It is no coincidence that Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh al-Maliki, speaking at the ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku, condemned "ideological support of the U.S. to Israel".

All these disagreements raise a reasonable question: is there a real opportunity to reduce tensions in the region of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, if there is no breakthrough in its peaceful settlement? Unfortunately, nothing hints about the willingness of the confronting sides to make any concessions. The situation is getting even worse due to complete disagreement between the external forces, primarily the U.S. and Russia, which have traditionally acted as international mediators of the conflict. We can only hope that the Great March of Return and Israel’s reaction to it do not lead to a situation when a great regional war will be inevitable.