It's wishful thinking to ask about diplomacy when Israel is about to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and daily rocket exchanges with Lebanon's Hezbollah raise the prospect of a second front. But escalation is madness and the world certainly does not need this cycle of polarisation and radicalisation. Diplomacy is not dead, although it may seem like it's on life support.
We ask about Rishi Sunak visiting Israel after Joe Biden, the king of Jordan travelling to Egypt and the German defence minister landing in Lebanon. So many peace efforts have failed over the past three decades that the international community grew tired of trying, instead hoping that Israel's US-brokered normalisation of ties with Arab states would induce a trickle-down positive effect on the Palestinians. We now know where that has led.
Who brokers a path to real reconciliation? Hamas may be crushed militarily, but not its ideology. So who to negotiate with on the Palestinian side? And what about Israel, whose sitting prime minister pandered to Jewish far-right settlers intent on subjugating the West Bank? How to break this deadly cycle of hate?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.
