Who is at Fault for All the Failed Ceasefires?

As the world continues to watch the events of the war with Hamas unfold, many have called for a more permanent solution to help create an environment of “peace” in the Middle East. These same people have blamed this lack of peace on Israel, but is Israel really the party at fault for this hostility? The calls for permanent ceasefires and a two-state solution persist despite Hamas being the party that broke the most recent ceasefire. This poses the question: “Have the Palestinians historically been the party responsible for the failure of the two-state solution?”

How Many Peace Talks Have Been Discussed in Modern History?

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, there have been a whopping 38 discussions concerning peace between Israel and its disputed land mass with the first discussion beginning in 1925. This means that there have been talks as to how the Jews and their neighbors would live in a peaceful environment since before Israel declared its statehood in 1948. 

One of the most notable peace deals proposed to the Palestinians was as follows:

“In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to withdraw from 97 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of the Gaza Strip. In addition, he agreed to dismantle 63 isolated settlements. In exchange for the 3% annexation of the West Bank, Israel would increase the size of the Gaza territory by roughly a third. Barak also made previously unthinkable concessions on Jerusalem, agreeing that Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem would become the capital of the new state. The Palestinians would maintain control over their holy places and have “religious sovereignty” over the Temple Mount. The proposal also guaranteed Palestinian refugees the right of return to the Palestinian state and reparations from a $30 billion international fund that would be collected to compensate them.”

Yasser Arafat rejected this offer with no counter offer due to the reasoning that he was unwilling to stop inflicting terror upon the Jewish people. The events following this refused peace talk led to an additional five years of terror that resulted in over 1,000 Israeli deaths. 

This is not an uncommon trend; the Palestinian leadership regularly rejects offers of peace and breaks ceasefires with Israel. These decisions of prolonging violence are also made by Hamas leadership in Gaza today. This quote from the spokesperson for the Consulate of Israel in New York, Itay Milner, expresses this fact well: 

“October 6th, there was a cease-fire. This war was forced on us by Hamas.” 

Not only did Hamas initiate this war, but also broke the most recent ceasefire while an estimated 137 hostages were still in their possession.

The continued calls for a permanent ceasefire appear to be without sound reasoning. As the pro-Palestine population claims that Israel must stop this violence and commit to a ceasefire, they seem to have forgotten that Israel has agreed to multiple peace deals and ceasefires with the Palestinians, but the Palestinians have disagreed with or broken nearly every posed offer.

Why Don’t Ceasefires Work?

The answer is relatively simple for such a complex war. A ceasefire won’t work because the people in Gaza do not want it to work. In order for a ceasefire to be carried out and continued, both parties must be in unison on the concept of peace. While Israel has shown extreme willingness and intent to begin a new chapter of peace with Gaza, even to the point of giving the entirety of the Gaza Strip into the possession of the Palestinians in 2005, the elected leadership and civilians in Gaza do not hold the same determination to see peace with Israel. The vocalized intent of the Gazans is to commit genocide against the Jewish people and conquer the entire Land of Israel: both Israel proper and the debated areas. When one party advocates for peace and the other party advocates for domination, ceasefires will not last.

Since a ceasefire doesn’t appear to be a long term solution to the war, what does have the potential of being a long-lasting answer? The only apparent solution to this problem is to continue the mission at hand of dismantling the entirety of Hamas. There will not be peace in the Middle East as long as one of the two parties is unwilling to compromise or stay faithful to their agreed upon word. The responsibility for the ongoing war falls onto the ones who attacked Israel on October 7th and then broke the ceasefire with Israel on December 1st: Hamas. It would be irresponsible for Israel to idly watch as their own country and citizens are being targeted for death. Israel has no alternative to taking action against those responsible for the murders and kidnappings against their own civilians.