Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Paul Pillar
“The retiring United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process has insightfully identified a major reason the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians continues to boil and to entail widespread death and destruction. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Norwegian diplomat Tor Wennesland criticized the international community for relying on short-term fixes such as improving quality of life in occupied territory or diversions such as seeking peace deals between Israel and other Arab states. The crescendo of bloodshed during the past year underscores the ineffectiveness of such approaches. Needed but not employed was a concerted and sustained diplomatic effort to end the occupation and create a Palestinian state. ‘What we have seen,’ said Wennesland, ‘is the failure of dealing with the real conflict, the failure of politics and diplomacy.'” (12/12/24)