Peaceful co-existence the way forward

Israel and the Hamas declared a cease-fire on Friday, halting their 11-day-long conflict, which has claimed the lives of 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, and 12 Israelis, including two children. Besides, more than 1,900 people have been injured and 120,000 rendered homeless.

The cease-fire, if honored by both sides, will ensure no more lives are lost. Hamas' military capability is not comparable to that of Israel. However, it fired more than 4,000 rockets, putting a lot of pressure on the Israeli defense forces.

Israel claims to have made "huge achievements" in its military operations, killing many leaders in the enemy camp, but its military spending in the first five days of the conflict exceeded $500 million. And the entire operation must have cost it more than $1 billion. As such, the cease-fire, spares Israel a heavy economic burden.

The United States stopped the United Nations Security Council from passing a cease-fire resolution several times, but it has now crossed the limit. If Israel carries on with such military operations in the future, it might face greater pressure from the international community. So the cease-fire also saves Israel from more embarrassment.

The conflict also leaves Israel with more questions to answer. For example, in September 2020, Israel signed the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with the intention of improving Israeli-Arab relations. But is Israel sincere about the principle and clauses of the accords?

According to a recent survey carried out across 13 Arab countries, 88 percent of the respondents said they opposed any reconciliation with Israel, while 79 percent said they are very concerned about the Palestinian question.

That casts a shadow on the future of Israeli-Arab relations and, in some sense, it is at the core of the endless conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The latest conflict was just a case of the differences reaching a flashpoint.

It is time Israel and the Arab nations found a path of peaceful co-existence. That is the only way to address their problems.

－SUN XINGJIE, A PROFESSOR AT THE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, JILIN UNIVERSITY