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Prof. Elie Podeh is a Bamberger and Fuld Chair in the history of the Muslim peoples at the Department of Islamic and Middle East Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Board Member of Mitvim – the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.
Wars create opportunities for peaceful change: Will the Gaza war serve as a case in point?
While war is still raging in Gaza following Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel, it nonetheless arguably offers an opportunity for a profound shift in the modalities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which looked unlikely in the period preceding the war. Based on analysis of several examples from the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this article asserts that in order to seize the opportunity, both sides will need legitimate leaderships that enjoy international support and are willing and determined to make concessions and build trust.
Within a mere few years after World War II the Middle East was remade. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and its consequences helped propel that part of the world to what seems to be a permanent and unenviable spot on any list of world crises.
