On the occasion of the explosion of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

9. Oktober 2023

The attack of the Kassem Brigades from the Gaza Strip on Israel fills the headlines. As in the Ukraine war, it is being portrayed as surprising, unprovoked and brutal, and once again the German foreign minister is one of the first to promise unlimited solidarity to one of the warring parties. But the attack has a history that can be traced to the occupation policies of Israeli governments since 1967, which violate international law and have repeatedly led to outbreaks of violence between the parties to the conflict. Attempts to defuse the conflict through a two-state solution have been blocked again and again by the Israeli side.
Developments that are hinting at a rapprochement between individual Arab states and Israel, overriding the interests of the Palestinians in the process, as well as the violent occupation policy of the current far right Netanyahu government, which has claimed some 300 Palestinian lives in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, form the provocative background to the attack from the Gaza Strip on Israeli territory. Without naming and fighting the asymmetry of violence and the use of force in this conflict, a solution will not be possible.

The consequences of the attack of the Kassem Brigades for the people in this war region are serious, several hundred Israelis have been killed, and nearly 2,000 people were injured. On the Palestinian side in the Gaza Strip, more than 1000 people were already killed and several 1000 civilian injured by Israeli forces.
The FIR reaffirms therefore in this situation its basic attitude: Also this attack of the Hamas must be stopped immediately. Ceasefire and negotiations for a peace solution on the basis of the resolutions of the United Nations, which can be actually accepted by both sides, are the only solution in the interest of all people in the conflict regions.
Israel’s security will not be guaranteed until a negotiated two-state solution is implemented. We demand that the governments immediately advocate a halt to hostilities and the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip, mobilize all available diplomatic forces, and finally promote the negotiated path to a two-state solution on a sustained basis.