Is there a better way?

There are probably many like me who are finding it difficult to watch the news at the moment. Whatever your preferred source of information, even the most balanced coverage provokes rage and dismay every few minutes. That could be the case with any conflict or wide-scale suffering. They rise up and fall down the news agenda not according to their severity, but by their novelty and perceived importance. It is a long time since we heard about Yemen, Dharfur or the Rohingya or the Uighurs – names we might have come to know only by their misfortune.

But, of course I am no exception in talking about Gaza and Israel. Not only is this the blanket headline around the world, even a week after this unprecedented round of inhumanity began, but it will always be seen as the most visceral of conflicts. For the Arab world there is natural affinity, but also around the globe where many countries have Arab, Palestinian, Jewish and Israeli citizens in their millions. Some of us have friends and relatives, a few like me used to visit friends in Palestine once upon a time. Gaza feels real and close. Perhaps as we watch this horror, Oman has a special reason to wonder what 2.3 million lives and livelihoods are worth. That number is not too far away from the size of Oman's own native population, yet Muscat alone is almost exactly ten times the size of the Gaza strip. We all have our own comparisons and references to imagine the suffering.

There is a saying that the first casualty of war is truth, and we are certainly seeing a lot of claims and counter-claims in this conflict. I would say that truth is second - it is sanity that dies first. In a conflict that is really a century old (or a millennium depending on your point of view) the idea that an outbreak of mass violence could be a solution is clearly ridiculous. But, the call of this madness is strong. When I watch terrible scenes of death and destruction it is easy to give in to the basic instinct that provokes us to anger. But that is not a rational reaction – especially from my comfortable sofa. More importantly, it is not a useful one.

Whatever your perspective, the most extreme and murderous on either side are always essential to each other. Without the degrading treatment of Palestinians by Israel's Government, Hamas would have far less popular support. Without the rockets and the other attacks, Netenyahu would have struggled to form yet another precarious coalition government.

How did it come to this? It is sixteen years since there was any meaningful discussion of Palestinian statehood. First Ariel Sharon and then Netenyahu have continued to provoke just enough violence to keep themselves elected, while dehumanising and delegitimising the Palestinian cause for self-determination. Painting the Palestinian cause as violent religious extremism (how ironic!) makes winning over international sympathy so much easier. It is a manifest disaster that those outside Palestine who claim to support Palestinians are so eager to encourage the same picture. I can understand anyone who lives the life of a Gazan wanting to take up arms against their oppressor, to a point. What is devastating for the Palestinians is how external actors are more interested in seeing them fight and die that to find a real solution.

Sadly, while extremists on both sides are in charge, not a single square foot of Palestinian land will become independent, and Israeli spokesmen and lobbyists will continue to successfully sell the false narrative that “we cannot make peace with terrorists”. In the mean time Gaza will shrink more, just like it did six years ago. The extreme goal of the Israeli right of forcing all Palestinians to leave the West Bank and Gaza will get a bit closer, and some will still cheer naively when a masked man waves a Kalashnikov. Nobody works harder for Benjamin Netenyahu than they do, whether they mean to or not.

The UN and other well-meaning actors used to refer to the 1967 borders as a basis for peace, and that remains the basis for the current legal status of the occupation. Others still want to talk about 1946 or 1948 as if those old wrongs can still be righted. It's harsh to say, but that ship sailed fifty-six years ago. For many years the Oslo accords have been “the only game in town”, and I have always prayed for a return to that process.

Realistically, so much damage has been done in settlement building, political atrophy and spilled blood that I can no longer pretend that Oslo is alive. From the earliest days of hope when Yasser Arafat held his olive branch at the United Nations general assembly, to the surreal reality of watching him share a joke with Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton at Camp David, a journey was made. It was a journey of vision and imagination, patience and perseverance.

Few people could have the insight or the influence to hope to start a new peace process and see it through to the end. Certainly, neither Hamas nor the Likud seem interested and the other voices are hard to hear in this chaos. I doubt Joe Biden has the years or the political will to be Clinton in this scenario. There is no Arafat and no Rabin. What I am sure of though, is that most people around the world want to wake up in the morning, have breakfast, drop their children at a good school, earn a decent living and look forward to the weekend. Palestinians, Israelis, all of us. Someone needs to speak for those people.

After the Oslo accords, many criticised Oman for daring to join in the peace-making process. When times are tough, some engage and try to broker peace or help the needy. Some posture at the UN with fake ceasefire resolutions that are only designed to undermine the actual discussions. Some point fingers and are quick to criticise others while doing nothing themselves. Oman has a proud history of stepping up, criticised or not, to offer a calm word and help put enemies at a table instead of a battlefield. The tragedy of Israel and Palestine today may not be the moment for Oman, but the time for the peacemakers must come whoever they are.

Whatever years of negotiations and an imperfect peace might look like, it is a better way. It's surely better than this.