Charles P. Ries, Daniel Egel, Shelly Culbertson, David E. Thaler, C. Ross Anthony, Robin Meili, Mark Christopher Schwartz, Amal Altwaijri, Raphael S. Cohen & Marzia Giambertoni
CHAPTER 1
A Hinge Point?
In one form or another, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has vexed would-be peacemakers for more than 75 years. World leaders, experienced diplomats, and committed activists on all sides have tried unsuccessfully to find the right formulas to guarantee peace, security, and prosperity for both peoples and to embed the solution in institutions and ensure guarantors for the long term.
October 7, 2023, will go down in history for the ferocity and brutality of surprise attacks by terrorists from Gaza on civilian communities, a music festival, and security installations in Israel. Close to 1,200 mainly civilian Israelis were killed, many in horrific ways, and 251 were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
In response, Israel launched an air and land assault on Gaza that thus far has led to the deaths of approximately 40,000 people and as many as 90,000 wounded, according to Palestinian Health Ministry estimates.2 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimate that perhaps 17,000 of those killed were Hamas fighters of various kinds.3 Much of Gaza’s infrastructure, including housing; hospitals; and power, water, and sewage facilities, has been destroyed. Food and medical care are now scarce, and disease is spreading.
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