Peace needed to prevent people from embracing fatalism

It is concerning to hear people in the Middle East applauding Iran’s strikes on Israel. Others equally celebrated Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran last weekend. A large number from both these camps seem increasingly willing to entertain the idea of total war — many even seem to be wishing for it. This sense of fatalism is no doubt another reflection of the loss of trust in ourselves, our society and our leadership, as well as the institutions that have long worked but often failed to underpin the idea of freedom and justice for all.

It is now more than a year since the Oct. 7 attacks and the start of Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza. Also, the war in support of Hamas, launched by groups allied to Iran like Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, has been widening. Over the past four weeks, thousands have been injured and hundreds of thousands displaced in Lebanon. While all efforts to reach a ceasefire have failed, people everywhere in the region have been despairing and sensing the void in world leadership.

This fatalism is surely permeating through all of the above crises, which have also been causing a heightened sense of desperation, as people see no end in sight to the continuous state of war in the Middle East, from Gaza to Lebanon and not discounting Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Sudan. This also reflects a worldwide trend of general malaise bordering on a fatalistic drive, calling for the end of everything. Leaderships and institutions are increasingly becoming less trusted, as people’s confidence in their systems of government sink further. This is even leading to a loss of belief in the shared ethos of the sanctity of human life and common historic achievements, anchored in the pursuit of peace and happiness.

Such a universal deficiency of trust has crept up through populist thoughts that have drummed up racist rhetoric and the fear of the other. This is manifesting itself in a growing ethnoreligious isolationism that is pushing us to the brink of destroying all tenets of international law and order.

People everywhere in the region have been despairing and sensing the void in world leadership

Mohamed Chebaro

This trend is not unique to the Arab Middle East, where the long-standing Palestinian question continues to brew dispossession, displacement and discontent. This is pushing people into a spiral of no confidence in the existence of justice as guaranteed by international humanitarian laws and their development over centuries.

In the rest of the world, events have only served to amplify this fatalistic approach. Look at the rise of populism in the West, which was a form of protest vote that went on to become the norm, reflecting state failure and people’s intensified fear of the future and of others. This is an age where the organs of the state have struggled to control the narrative amid toxic currents pumping out despair at every juncture, boosted by a self-defeating social media algorithm that thrives on the amplification of false narratives and blunt lies for profit, even though such tools have been eroding societal peace and cohesion.

Amid this, fatalism has all of a sudden started sticking its neck out in advanced and non-advanced countries alike, as a sense of uncertainty and lower than usual trust in politicians and the state have led people to support a total overhaul of the political landscape. They are rejecting the norms and values governing the relationship between the ruled and their rulers, such as by accepting erroneous populist approaches that are later expressed in a total rejection of the status quo, even if the alternatives are clearly not conducive to lessening their despair.

They are rejecting the norms and values governing the relationship between the ruled and their rulers

Mohamed Chebaro

Not far from me, the UK’s Brexit vote was one such lurch into the unknown, despite all of the clear writing on the wall regarding the futility of the project, which further impoverished the state and its people. Donald Trump, the clearest example of the rise of populism, is another case that reflects the negative impact on the livelihoods of working class people. Their financial security and sense of community has been destroyed, provoking anger and resentment and resulting in a total rejection of the political establishment and the rule of law that has governed life and wealth in advanced countries since the Second World War.

The Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s retaliatory war have unfortunately served to awaken Israelis’ existential fears, which had been dormant for decades. The war has reaffirmed to many in the Arab region their long-held, incorrect conclusion that Palestinian, Arab and Muslim lives are somehow worth less. Hence, many have been inclined to surrender to fatalism and wish that the war would expand and destroy everything, in the hope that this would invite a solution and ultimately end their suffering.

In the Middle East and throughout the world, many are feeling that a total war would be a kind of solution, but they should be careful what they wish for. The war theorist Carl von Clausewitz wrote in the early 19th century that every age has “its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions and its own peculiar preconceptions.” Wars and conflicts start, but no one can control their fire or their ramifications. It is inconceivable that wars could bring an end to suffering or eliminate adversities. Only diplomacy, engagement and reasonable compromises can end conflicts, however elusive they may be. For Palestine and Israel, only a recommitment to a two-state solution or any other reasonable formula can replace people’s fatalism with hope.

• Mohamed Chebaro is a British Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.