#conrad barwa

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As difficult as it is to accept under the current circumstances, there can be no military solution to the conflict; only a political one. Israel has invaded Gaza four times since its withdrawal from the territory in 2005, each time leading to considerable loss of life on the Palestinian side. There have been two major intifadas against the occupation since 1987. Palestinian nationalist self-consciousness and determination to resist have not appreciably declined but, if anything, become more entrenched.

Conrad Barwa, ‘Palestine: Some Unpleasant Truths And The Prospects For Peace’, Free Press Journal

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Part of any genuine Palestinian self-determination must mean the ability to choose their own leaders, and any credible negotiation must be with representatives that have critical support from their people. There can be no wish-fulfilment exercise where Israel gets to choose who its partners on the Palestinian side in negotiations are going to be. Every time Israel has interfered internally in Arab polities to try and set up a partner it would prefer to deal with — from the self-government village authorities in the West Bank in the 1980s, the Phalangist strongman Bashir Gemayel in Lebanon, to the decrepit current Palestinian authority under Abbas — it has backfired and ended in disaster. Complaints about the lack of democracy in the Arab world sound hollow when the results are deemed unacceptable and suppressed. Whosoever the Palestinian representatives are in any peace negotiations, they must be chosen by the Palestinians themselves and no one else.

Conrad Barwa, ‘Palestine: Some Unpleasant Truths And The Prospects For Peace’, Free Press Journal

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Hamas is not just a terrorist organisation but, as Mukul Kesavan has said, it is also a “protection racket, social welfare organisation and national liberation movement”. Like Hezbollah, it has gained legitimacy and credibility amongst the local population by laying down deep roots; apart from the much-decried “terrorist infrastructure”, it also provides most of the civilian administration for Gaza, ranging from teachers, doctors, imams, engineers, bureaucrats and police officers (altogether estimated to be about 40,000), forming an entire array of institutions that are responsible for governing Gaza, whose absence would form a devastating vacuum. Those who believe in eviscerating Hamas completely as a political organisation would do well to remember what happened in Iraq in 2003, when American governor Paul Bremner summarily dismissed thousands of civil servants because they were members of the Ba’ath party, causing widespread chaos and setting back the rehabilitation of the civilian sector and economy by years.

Conrad Barwa, ‘Palestine: Some Unpleasant Truths And The Prospects For Peace’, Free Press Journal

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The former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis eloquently stated: “The path to ending the tragic loss of innocent lives — both Palestinian and Israeli — begins with one crucial first step: the end of the Israeli occupation and apartheid.” Numerous other observers, including all former living directors of Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency, have stated on record that ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the only way to really achieve both aims; the current director of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, warned Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu in a briefing that settler violence was fuelling Palestinian terrorism. Unfortunately, it is by now difficult to avoid the fact that Israel is at best reluctant, at worst unwilling to end this occupation.

Conrad Barwa, ‘Palestine: Some Unpleasant Truths And The Prospects For Peace’, Free Press Journal