سلام and שָׁלוֹם (Peace)
International Stances on the Conflict Between Israel and Palestine
In modern warfare, shots fired anywhere can be heard around the world. They act as catalysts for both support and condemnation from allies and enemies. Recent developments of the Israel–Hamas War are no different, as both sympathy and hatred towards these two belligerents come from across the globe.
Opinions of Neighboring Countries
First, the reactions of neighboring countries have been split between support for Hamas and support for Israel, though most encourage a swift end to the conflict. Qatar is a small neighbor with a large role in the Israel-Hamas war, in that it has economic and political connections to both America and Israel and also funds various armed groups in the Middle East, including Hamas. Most recently, they have supported a delicate “tri-a-logue” between the US and Hamas to release hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip The most successful negotiation involved emancipating an Israeli-American mother and daughter; they were released on October 20th. Above all, Qatar seeks a stable and quick settlement of the conflict. Al Jazeera reported on the 23rd that, “Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani calls for an end to war that ‘has transcended all limits’ and threatens regional stability.”
Another nearby country, the United Arab Emirates, has similar leanings towards peace. Their leaders have warned Syria and Lebanon to stay out of the conflict, and have ties to Israel via the Abraham Accords. The Khaleej Times of the UAE reports that they also seek peace through aid. A recent article explains, “An airbridge from the UAE is helping transport vital medical supplies, food kits, and other relief items to war-hit Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. A flight containing the fifth shipment from Dubai's International Humanitarian City (IHC) landed in Al Arish, Egypt, on Monday, carrying over 9 tons of humanitarian aid from the World Health Organization stockpile.”
In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s (an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas) government control as a recognized political party makes direct intervention for peace seem unlikely. In fact, Hezbollah is constantly attacking Israel from the north at the Lebanon-Israel border. However, the leaders of the Druze party in Lebanon and Hezbollah operatives publicly oppose Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. It remains to be seen if Lebanon will provide further support to Hamas or broker a ceasefire on the border, or both. Either way, it is clear that Lebanon is in support of Palestine, but how factions within Lebanon show their support is where the country becomes more divided.
The final neighboring country, Saudi Arabia, is opposed to the conflict. During a panel in Riyadh, the Saudi Minister of Finance stated, “Our sympathy goes to those who are suffering, civilians, civilian casualties wherever they are, and international law needs to be respected — without international law being respected the world would be in chaos, so we need calm, we need wisdom, we need to collaborate, to bring calm and make sure that we de-escalate.” Furthermore, CNBC reports, “In a call between U.S. President Joe Biden and the Saudi crown prince, the two leaders agreed on the importance of working toward “sustainable peace” between Israelis and Palestinians once the crisis subsides, the White House said.”
Opinions of Other Powers
Moving north, the European Union overwhelmingly supports Israel, and most governments seem to be ambivalent towards Palestinians. Abdalrahim Alfarra, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the European Union, has condemned the EU’s stance for being late in issuing recognition statements of tragedies that affect Palestinians most (such as the al Ahli Hospital bombing). He also criticizes EU leaders for making statements such as the following: “[We stand with] full solidarity with the people of Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself – always in line with humanitarian and international law.”
Sweden, often a neutral nation on the world stage, stopped development and infrastructure aid to Palestine in response to Hamas attacks. Government statements clarified that humanitarian aid will still be given, but support for Palestine as an autonomous body is looking shakier. Additionally, the Israeli PM visited Sweden in May 2023 to garner support from their unusually right-wing government.
Britain takes a more moderate stance compared to its counterparts in the EU. Reuters reports, “British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met the leaders of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in Cairo on Friday (Oct 20th), agreeing with them on the need to let humanitarian aid into Gaza and avoid civilian casualties in Israel's war with Hamas.” The official statement from the Foreign Office in the UK reads, “Israel has a right to defend itself, but all possible measures to protect ordinary Palestinians and facilitate humanitarian aid ought to be taken.”
Turning east, Asian countries have varied opinions on the conflict. China has taken a strong pro-Palestine stance, in that they support a two-state solution with an independent Palestine. China’s Middle East envoy Zhai Jun is quoted as saying, “The fundamental reason the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has reached its current state is that the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people have not been protected.” Foreign Minister Wang Yi also told the Israeli Foreign Minister that, “Every country has the right to self-defense but should abide by international humanitarian law and protect civilians. It is imperative to prevent further escalation of the situation that could lead to a worse humanitarian catastrophe.” The same article furthered that China is attempting to contribute aid to Gaza, but blockages have made distribution difficult. From the Palestinian perspective, aid from one of the world’s commercial giants would be a definite advantage.
India takes a very different stance, going so far as to crack down on citizens who support Palestine. Al Jazeera reported, “In the national capital, New Delhi, there have been several examples of people being detained during rallies organized by student groups, activists, and citizens for solidarity with the Palestinians since October 7.” Bengaluru and Karnataka also have seen similar detentions, and the article goes on further to say, “[P]ro-Israel rallies, organized mainly by Hindu right-wing groups, were seen across India, while many on social media offered their services to the Israeli forces.” However, formal diplomatic channels are more balanced. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ official statement on the war reads, “There is a universal obligation to observe international humanitarian law, and there is also a global responsibility to fight terrorism.” India’s position on the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict, summarized, includes the goals of producing a sovereign, independent state of Palestine at peace with Israel.
Japan is the most neutral and prominent nation in Asia. This is in part because the Japanese aligned strongly with Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and were subsequently slammed with embargos from Israel’s opponents who were their main oil providers. This ambiguous stance is reflected in their short official statement:
On October 7, Hamas and other Palestinian militants launched a number of rockets into Israel and infiltrated into the Israeli territories from the Gaza Strip, and caused numerous deaths and injuries. Japan strongly condemns the attacks which severely harmed innocent civilians. Japan offers its condolences to the bereaved families and expresses its heartfelt sympathies to the injured.
In addition, a number of people including civilians were reportedly kidnapped by Hamas and other Palestinian militants. Japan strongly condemns such acts and urges the early release of those captives.
At the same time, Japan is deeply concerned about a number of casualties in the Gaza Strip caused by the attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces.
Japan urges all the parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid further damage and casualties.
Japan will continue to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Japanese people in Israel and the Gaza Strip, while strengthening its efforts to reach out to both Israelis and Palestinians, and work towards calming down the situation as soon as possible in close coordination with the international community.
Japan has not yet released humanitarian aid figures. The world is yet to see how Japan will further involve or isolate itself from the war.
The Western hemisphere’s responses are relatively united. America is currently acting as an adjudicator; the official policy is that they side with Israel, as they are a longtime close national ally, and they have two aircraft carriers en route to help Israel. Biden has also visited Tel Aviv and other cities in the region multiple times to discuss the conflict with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the Biden administration is not fully pro-Israel. They advocate for a two-state solution, recognizing Palestine as a group worthy of having a self-governing country. Recently, the White House also announced “$100 million in humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.” The American people seem to side most strongly with Israel, according to a YouGov/The Economist survey from the second week of October. Only 18% of Americans thought Israel’s reaction to attacks was too strong; 32% thought it was just strong enough, and 22% even thought it was not strong enough given the circumstances.
Similar to the US, Canada has expressed support for a two-state solution. They pledged a more modest $50 million in aid to Palestinians, and liberal MPs are currently pushing for Canada to open a humanitarian corridor. However, the same article reported that certain instances, such as the hospital attack, received only radio silence from the Prime Minister, and citizens are urging a more decisive pro-Palestinian stance. Canadian research analytics firm The Leger ran a poll to gauge Canadians’ takes on the conflict and reported, “40 percent of people said they believed Canada's support to Israel is "about right", while 10 percent said Canada isn't supportive enough to Israel, and 16 percent said it is too supportive. More than a third, or 34 percent, said they had no opinion.”
The official statement from Mexico conveys a stance similar to the other two discussed North American countries, “Mexico recognizes Israel's right to legitimate self-defense—which must be governed by the conditions established in international law—while condemning the use of force, regardless of which side uses it, especially when the targets are civilians, in clear violation of international humanitarian law.” The statement also urged United Nations intervention to set up a two-state system, but Mexico has not yet pledged aid due to Hurricane Otis straining the national budget. However, Mexico only recognizes Israel as a legitimate state, as of November 2023.
In Closing
It is clear that most of the world supports a two-state solution. Many countries have been shipping billions to the area in aid in hopes of achieving this goal. However, Pew Research Center presents sobering news: “Only 35% of Israelis think ‘a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully,’ according to the survey, which was conducted in March and April, prior to the latest violence in the West Bank. That represents a decline of 9 percentage points since 2017 and 15 points since 2013.” While the outside world is pleading for peace from a two-state solution, NPR reports that the Israeli government may be the issue preventing the formation of that solution as, “Palestinians [have] a sense that they couldn't make an agreement with the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” As things progress, all the world can do is keep sending aid, keep organizing talks, and keep praying for سلام and שָׁלוֹם (peace).