Israel inflicts destruction in Gaza and annihilates Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank. It was hard to imagine any person in the greater Middle East sleeping peacefully last Saturday when Iran hurled drone and missile strikes leveling tactical Israeli positions and Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The combined efforts of the United States, Israel, Jordan, and the United Kingdom destroyed in the air almost all of these drone missiles. Tehran pressed the trigger of this extraordinary attack when Israel bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, killing many of its people, including seven high-ranking officers of the Iranian military.
Despite losing the support of progressive and Arab American voters at home, for six months the Biden administration has exclusively supported Israel in its war on Gaza. Now the Biden administration must ask Israel to withdraw from the war, if only to ease domestic pressure.
The Israeli attack forced Iran to respond militarily. The Israeli attack was a clear violation of the diplomatic relations clause of the 1961 Vienna Convention. Iran struck directly on its own without the help of any proxy power.
In violation of the Vienna Convention, Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus was also a direct attack on Iran’s sovereignty. As a result, Iran’s desire to defend its sovereignty has motivated it to attack Israel. However, this dangerous excitement now seems to be turning into a curse.
The attack raised the prospect of a regional ceasefire. In particular, this attack by Iran has given a great opportunity to end the Gaza war, stop the Israel-Iran counter-show of force, and end the Yemeni Houthi offensive in the Red Sea.
Heeding US President Joe Biden’s warning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is believed to have decided not to retaliate against Iran immediately, though both camps are capable of displaying military capabilities. As a result, the region may move towards an uneasy equilibrium.
The balance of terror can sometimes act as a powerful deterrent to terrorism and promote peace and stability as the Cold War experience suggests. The UN Security Council should use this narrow opportunity to pass a strong and binding resolution. That proposal would call for a regional ceasefire.
The proposal should also apply to all countries and third-party combatants in the region, beyond Israel and Iran. This binding resolution must address and end the Gaza war, the epicenter of current regional instability, as a major issue.
The Security Council must demand an end to Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza and the release of all Israeli hostages and prisoners held by Hamas, in line with the March 25 resolution in which the US abstained from voting. Acceptance of international law obligations could also lead to the release of Palestinians held by Israel.
The Security Council should immediately draft and vote to pass a new resolution covering the entire region under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, in the face of the threat of all-out war. The new proposal should address the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and lay out a detailed roadmap for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders. As Saudi Arabia puts it: A credible solution path is a prerequisite for normalizing relations with Israel.
The US and several European countries urged Israel not to retaliate against Iran. However, Israel ignored the call and launched a retaliatory attack on Iran early Friday morning.
Many calculations are going on about the Iran-Israel war. Everyone is now busy trying to assess whether war will start between these two countries on a larger scale. The analysis of the experts in international politics says in that case, none will gain or lose.