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I Might Have Once Favored a Cease-Fire with Hamas, but Not Now

(New York Times) Dennis Ross - For 35 years, I've devoted my professional life to U.S. peacemaking policy and conflict resolution. Nothing has preoccupied me like finding a peaceful and lasting solution between Israel and the Palestinians. In the past, I might have favored a cease-fire with Hamas during a conflict with Israel. But today it is clear to me that peace is not going to be possible now or in the future as long as Hamas remains intact and in control of Gaza. Hamas' power and ability to threaten Israel must end. After Oct. 7, there are many Israelis who believe their survival as a state is at stake. That may sound like an exaggeration, but to them, it's not. If Hamas persists as a military force and is still running Gaza after this war is over, it will attack Israel again. The events of Oct. 7 changed everything. As one commander in the Israeli military said, "If we do not defeat Hamas, we cannot survive here." Over the past two weeks, when I talked to Arab officials throughout the region whom I have long known, every single one told me that Hamas must be destroyed in Gaza. They made clear that if Hamas is perceived as winning, it will validate the group's ideology of rejection, give leverage and momentum to Iran and its collaborators, and put their own governments on the defensive. As Israel's aerial bombardment of Gaza picks up in pace and civilian casualties rise, international calls for an immediate cease-fire are mounting. But ending the war now would mean Hamas would win. The writer, Counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former U.S. Envoy to the Middle East, served in senior national security positions in four U.S. administrations.
2023-10-29 00:00:00
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