The world expects better of Israel than constant recourse to violence

Editorial: Whatever the justifications given by the Israeli government for another invasion of the Jenin refugee camp, no one can seriously believe it will succeed in furthering the cause of peace

5 July 2023 (Dave Brown)

If brutal military operations by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Palestinian settlements were sufficient to end the conflict in the region, then the Middle East would have been at peace for decades. Plainly, it has not been – and equally obviously, violence is begetting violence, as it always has.

Whatever the justifications given by the Israeli government for what amounts to another invasion of the Jenin refugee camp, home to some 14,000 Palestinians and supposedly part of a nascent free Palestinian nation, no one can seriously believe it will succeed in furthering the cause of peace, strengthening the security of Israel, or ending the persistent terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians. Indeed, if history is anything to go by – and in this part of the world it tends to dictate a lot – it will merely make matters even worse.

Of course, it’s fair to say that the Israeli attack wasn’t motiveless. There have been many deadly attacks by Palestinian groups on Israeli settlers, followed by Israeli vigilante retaliation. Recent small-scale Israeli army incursions have been met with resistance. There is a cycle of violence, and the Israelis think they can end it by decisive force. So the aim of the attack was, in the dramatic language used by the Israelis, to “break the safe-haven mindset of the camp, which has become a hornets’ nest”.