LONDON: World leaders have wrongly focused on short-term fixes at the expense of pushing for a Palestinian state, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process has said.
Tor Wennesland, who is retiring after a four-year tenure, told the New York Times that the international community had focused on improving Gaza’s economy and diplomatic deals between Israel and Arab states, but that these approaches have failed to solve the central issue driving the conflict: the lack of a permanent settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Politics failed. Diplomacy failed. The international community failed. And the parties failed,” he said. “What we have seen is the failure of dealing with the real conflict, the failure of politics and diplomacy.”
Western leaders have failed to convince Israel of the need for Palestinian sovereignty, having been distracted by migration crises, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Wennesland added.
“Politics is what ends war, and diplomacy is what ends war,” he said, adding that international attention has been shifting “toward dealing with the day-to-day humanitarian situation, and with less attention on the politics.”
The perceived decline in the viability of the two-state solution among Western officials risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy as it allows opponents of Palestinian statehood to set the terms of debate, Wennesland said.
“The spoilers have been more effective, determined and fast moving than diplomats and politicians,” he added.
