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10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 OCTOBER 2023 ISRAEL - HAMAS WAR The Gaza tinder keg JAMES DEBONO HAMAS'S attacks on Israeli communities more than seven days ago left more than 1,300 Israelis dead and many more injured. The attacks provoked a massive retaliation from israel on the Gaza Strip, where more than two million Palestinians live on a sliver of land only slightly bigger than Malta. Israel has bombed Gaza, obliterating whole neigh- bourhoods in a bid to destroy Hamas infrastructure and target militants. But in the process almost 2,000 Pales- tinians have been killed. The situation has turned into a tinder keg that risks developing into a wider conflict in the Middle East. MaltaToday talked former prime minister Alfred Sant and veteran Nationalist MP Carm Mifsud Bonnici to get their views on the current situation in the Middle East. From hope to despair: 'No stability without a future of dignity' TWENTY-SIX years ago, Malta hosted a Euromed summit marked by a sense of cautious optimism, a mood generated by the Oslo Accords signed in 1993. During this event, Alfred Sant, who was then prime minister of Malta, oversaw a momentous and symbolic handshake be- tween the Palestinian leader Yasser Ara- fat and the Israeli foreign minister David Levy. Contacted by MaltaToday on Friday morning Alfred Sant recalls "the sense of optimism at that time" attributing this to an international climate conducive to giving Israelis and Palestinians "a per- spective of a future based on a two-state solution." Sant frames the gathering in Malta in 1997 as part of what was happening on a global level at the time, characterised by an ongoing dialogue between the EU, the Arab Mediterranean states and Israel. He also recalls that Malta was at that time considered "an acceptable venue" by all sides without gloating on this historical detail. Yet so many things have changed since then, chief amongst them according to Sant was the rise of extremism among both the Palestinians and within Israel itself. He also recalls that even before the Mal- ta gathering, the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 by an Israeli ultra nationalist had already dealt a blow to the peace process. Moreover, the growth of Hamas on one side - partly as a reaction against the cor- ruption within the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority - and the growth of an Israeli far right co-opted into government by Benjamin Netanyahu, has worsened the situation. Sant notes that one factor contributing to the greatest security breach of Israeli borders, was the deployment of Israeli troops to defend illegal settlements dom- inated by extremists in the West Bank. But recent events also provoke a sense of déjà vu with Sant recalling the Six Day war of 1967. Back then Palestinians were first driven to refugee camps in Jordan and subsequently into Lebanon with the PLO leadership ultimately being driven to Tunisia where it was also attacked. Sant fears that the same could happen in Gaza where civilians are being asked to evacuate or face destruction. "What I see is a continuation of the same story, that of a lack of any perspec- tive of a future for the Palestinians," add- ing that there will "always be instability in the absence of a perspective of a future." But while sensitive to the plight of Pales- tinians, Sant is appalled by "the growth of radical Islamism" which like all religious extremism does not bode well. Neither does he dismiss Hamas as "cra- zy", noting that while their actions are ab- horrent, there was a logic to their meth- od. "The attack was well planned, and they perfectly knew how Israel would have re- acted after the attack," he says. But Sant is sceptical on Iranian involve- ment in the Hamas attacks. "It is perfectly possible that Hamas acted on their own." Sant agrees the EU and the USA have responsibilities over the stalled peace process and the perception that especially in the case of the US, the pro-Israeli lobby is very strong. But Sant also notes that even within US society, and within Jewish groups, there is a more balanced debate and a greater awareness of the plight of Palestinians. He notes that this represents a marked change over the past decades with pro-Palestinian views becoming more mainstream. And while US support of Israel in the af- termath of the terrorist onslaught is pre- dictable, Sant also notes that this support has been qualified with calls on Israel to operate within the framework of interna- tional law. He notes that the European Union is still "traumatised by the holocaust". But he also warns that if Israel is not re- strained both the EU and US risk perpet- uating the idea that "they use two weights and two measures" when it comes to breaches of international law. While insisting that the only possible solution is a two-state solution, Sant feels that the current scenario is "very bleak". "The reality is that two million people in Gaza without a future will remain a source of instability irrespective of where they are expelled to… it has happened be- fore in 1967 and we know what happened after that." He also warns that the shift to the right in Israeli politics is perpetuating the idea of Israel as an apartheid state, even if he is not at ease with this definition. He also notes the split in the Palestinian move- ment, with Hamas developing roots in Palestinian society, something which he does not think can be wished away. The future looks bleak as extremism has taken a hold in the region. But there "can be no stability without a future based on dignity" and a "future for Palestinians" says former prime minister Alfred Sant, who in 1997 presided over a highly symbolic handshake between then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli foreign minister David Levy. David Levy and Yasser Arafat shaking hands as then prime minister Alfred Sant looks on