Whither the Israel-Hamas ceasefire?

By James M. Dorsey

Israelis and Palestinians have moved in diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive cycles for much of the past six decades.

A significant segment of Israeli society favoured until the late 1970s, a compromise solution to the conflict with the Palestinians even if the centre-left Labour Party initiated with broad public support Israeli settlement activity in Palestinian lands conquered during the 1967 Middle East war.

Public support for a compromise began to erode with the 1977 election of Likud leader Menahem Begin, the Israeli right’s first electoral victory since the state’s founding.

By the 1990s, Israel had moved to the right with the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the rise of Binyamin Netanyahu.

The mood in the country was becoming more hardline and uncompromising, fuelled by a series of lethal suicide attacks that dampened optimism in the wake of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

In addition, Mr. Netanyahu increasingly sought to hollow out the internationally recognised Palestine Authority by abandoning the concept of a two-state solution, undermining the Authority’s credibility, and turning it into a security adjunct of the Israeli state.

If Israel was becoming more hardline, Palestinians were moderating their positions. To read further, listen to the podcast, or watch the video, please go to https://jamesmdorsey.substack.com/p/whither-the-israel-hamas-ceasefire