Policy Brief No.182: Israel and Gaza: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

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This Policy Brief looks at the events of and since 7 October 2023 ‘in context’. The paper agrees with the Israeli claim that the destruction of the military threat posed by Hamas and the dismantling of the Hamas political structures are a necessary condition for re-establishing some sort of a peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, it argues that to move beyond yet another armed truce until the next incident that provokes yet another even more brutal round of fighting is unacceptable. Israelis too must rein in the ideological extremists in their midst who dehumanise and ‘Other’ all Palestinians. They must dismantle some settlements in occupied territory, and engage in good faith negotiations that will entail some painful sacrifices in order to create a substantial stake for Palestinians in preserving their own state rather than aiming to destroy the state of Israel.