Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher stated that Arabs view the United States as complicit in Israel's war on the Gaza Strip due to its refusal to implement a ceasefire before crushing "Hamas," a goal that is out of reach and may be impossible. Muasher, who is the vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a Zoom interview during the "Reuters Next" conference in New York, "At what point does the international community say enough is enough? We have already reached 10,000 civilian deaths." He added that a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel should be a top priority because there is no military solution to the conflict, which will not stop until Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian territories.
Muasher, who has also served as deputy prime minister and Jordan's ambassador to the United States and Israel, emphasized, "We need to find a way to make a ceasefire a top priority, and then we need to begin addressing the root cause of the conflict because if this root cause is not addressed, nothing will be resolved, and the problem will not be solved... the root cause is the occupation." He continued, "It is the longest occupation in modern history, lasting 56 years, and I fear the cycle of violence will persist if we do not take serious action on this."
Israel launched a ground and air assault on the Gaza Strip following an incursion by Hamas militants across the heavily populated border into southern Israel on October 7. Palestinian officials report that the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 10,000, including 4,237 children. The violence has fueled protests abroad due to the suffering of the 2.3 million residents of besieged Gaza, many of whom have been left without water, food, medicine, or electricity. Muasher stated, "In my view, the Arab street today sees the U.S. administration as complicit in the killings because the United States itself refuses to implement a ceasefire before crushing Hamas. That will take a very long time, if it is even possible."
Muasher explained that the goal of Netanyahu's far-right government is not to end the occupation or to establish a state for the Palestinians, as was agreed upon in peace accords 30 years ago. Instead, he said they aim to displace those living in Gaza to the bordering Sinai region of Egypt and ultimately remove those in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to neighboring Jordan. Calls for establishing a humanitarian corridor or an escape route for Palestinians from Gaza have raised warnings from Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority about a new wave of permanent displacement from the territories they seek to establish their future state.
He added, "If Israel today does not want to end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state, which is clearly the case, and if Israel also does not want a Palestinian majority in the areas under its control, the only solution left for Israel is to facilitate the mass transfer of civilians outside the borders it controls." He clarified, "Mass deportation is a real scenario, and mass relocation seems to be the only logical option for an Israeli government that does not want to end the occupation. And that is the tragedy."
Muasher stated that Israel's goal will not be achieved because the Palestinians have no intention of leaving. He said Israel could, if it truly cared about civilian casualties, open its borders to allow Gaza residents to cross into the West Bank. Instead, he added, they aim to "empty the Palestinian territories (of their population), from Gaza to Egypt and from the West Bank to Jordan, in the event of escalating conflict."
Muasher urged the international community to do everything in its power to ensure a permanent ceasefire before any "real initiative that addresses the root cause, which is to put an end to the occupation." He noted that some leaders, including those in Washington, have begun to talk about a political initiative to resolve the conflict. He emphasized that any serious initiative should avoid repeating the failures of previous efforts that led to an "open-ended process that does not end with the termination of the occupation," referring to the peace process that began three decades ago.
However, he added there are "serious questions about whether Washington is 'prepared or capable of exerting the necessary pressure for a serious political process.'"
Muasher anticipated a continuation of the cycle of violence as the focus shifts from a two-state solution to the Palestinians' struggle for equality in lands he described as governed by Israel "in an apartheid state." Israel rejects criticisms that it has established an apartheid system, a term used to refer to the racist policies of minority white rule in South Africa in the 20th century.
Israel withdrew its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but continued to expand settlements in the West Bank, which Israel occupied during the 1967 war. Palestinians have long sought to establish a state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital. Muasher said, "If the international community does not move together, it will have to deal not just with an occupation, but with an apartheid system."
