On March 26 of this year, the 46th anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel – a treaty long forgotten by everyone – passed unnoticed.
Netanyahu’s Delusional Policy: A Power Grab or a Path to Disaster?
More than forty years have passed, yet the situation in the Middle East has only worsened; the prospects for peace grow ever more elusive, while the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination is systematically ignored. Much of this is due to the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose policies have led not to stability, but to escalating conflicts. Today, he boasts of waging war on seven fronts, repeatedly emphasising this in his speeches. But the question arises: does such an aggressive strategy truly serve the interests of Israel and its citizens?
Netanyahu leads the most far-right government in the country’s history, and his actions increasingly resemble a desperate attempt to cling to power at any cost. But what are the consequences? Peace in Palestine remains unattained, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is only deepening, and the region is descending further into chaos. By igniting a massive fire in the Middle East for his own political ambitions, Netanyahu seems to have forgotten a simple truth: Israel is part of this region, and its citizens will have to live side by side with Palestinians and other Arab peoples for many years to come.
What drives Netanyahu? A fear of losing power? The illusion that he can crush all opponents with impunity? His rhetoric and actions increasingly resemble unhealthy fanaticism rather than rational policy. Can anyone seriously believe that Israel alone can defeat the entire Arab world? This is not a strategy; it is a dangerous utopia, a chimera born of paranoia and detachment from reality.
Instead of seeking dialogue and compromise, Netanyahu prefers force, endangering not only the future of the Palestinians, but also the security of Israelis themselves. History has repeatedly shown that policies based on aggression and the denial of other peoples’ rights inevitably lead to disaster. We can only hope that Israeli society recognises the dead end of this path before the consequences become irreversible.
At present, there are no signs that the situation will improve in the foreseeable future. War has become not only a tool of Israeli politics but – thanks to the unlimited and unprecedented U.S. support for Israel – a means to unleash destruction upon innocent and defenceless Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
U.S.A.-Israel: An Alliance That Buried Peace in the Middle East
When Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire agreement signed on January 15 by closing all border crossings linking Gaza to the outside world, cutting off electricity and water, and then resuming military operations, the Trump administration, defying global public opinion, declared that the United States fully supports the Israeli government.
When, on March 26, 1979, the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the White House in Washington, applauded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, he could never have imagined that in the decades to come, peace in the Middle East would become such a chimera. He sincerely believed the treaty would pave the way for a comprehensive, lasting, and just peace in the region. His trust in the United States knew no bounds, a trust for which Sadat ultimately paid the price.
The preamble of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty states that the signatories are “convinced of the urgent necessity of the establishment of a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338” and that they “are convinced that the conclusion of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel is an important step in the search for comprehensive peace in the region and for the settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict in all its aspects”. It was on this basis that they signed the treaty.
The phrase “in all its aspects” indirectly refers to the Palestinian issue. The Camp David Accords of September 17, 1978 (specifically the ‘Framework for Peace in the Middle East’) explicitly recognised the “legitimate rights of the Palestinian people”. However, neither Begin (who signed the accords) nor his successors (especially Netanyahu, who has done everything possible not only to strip Palestinians of their rights, but also to seize their land and that of their ancestors, effectively erasing an entire people) have honoured this commitment. These Israeli atrocities are being committed in the 21st century with the direct complicity of the so-called ‘democratic’ United States.
Over the past 46 years, the promise of a just and comprehensive peace has remained unfulfilled despite the Jordan-Israel peace treaty of October 24, 1994, the so-called Abraham Accords of September 2020, and the Declaration of Principles (Oslo Accords) signed by the late Yasser Arafat as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Washington on September 13, 1993.
Had the far-right forces in Israel, led by Netanyahu and the settler movement, not sabotaged nearly all the Oslo agreements, it is quite clear that Hamas, in its desperate attempt to defend its people, would not have launched its military operation on October 7, 2023. In retaliation (and seizing the opportunity), Israel’s ruling coalition, as it has done throughout its history, is now carrying out the wholesale destruction of the Palestinian people and an inhumane military campaign of forced displacement.
“Voluntary Migration” or Forced Expulsion? Israel’s New Plan
In March 1979, neither Sadat nor Carter could have imagined that their quest for peace and an end to Middle East wars would face such insurmountable obstacles.
In this context, it is worth noting that on March 22, the Israeli cabinet approved the creation of a body to oversee “voluntary migration” from Gaza. According to The Jerusalem Post, this body will include representatives from various ministries and agencies, including foreign affairs, justice, transportation, strategic affairs, the Israeli military, Shin Bet, and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). The same source indicates that ongoing military operations in Gaza will facilitate this migration, while the territory itself, under the U.S.-Israeli plan, will be turned into a “Middle Eastern Riviera”. In this vision, the presence of Palestinians themselves is deemed undesirable.
Even more sinister was the statement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who announced that Israel’s security cabinet had approved a plan to grant “independence” – widely understood as de facto annexation – to 13 Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Smotrich declared: “We are continuing the revolution of normalisation and regulation in the settlements… We are raising the flag, building, and settling. This is another important step toward real sovereignty in Judea and Samaria” (Israel’s term for the West Bank).
Under these circumstances, the Israeli minister’s statement amounts to a death sentence not only for the Camp David Accords, but for all past and future agreements. The hope for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East remains distant, if not entirely extinguished, thanks to the relentless efforts of the U.S. and Israel.
Victor Mikhin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Expert on Middle Eastern Countries.
