On the Anniversary of October 7

On the sunny October morning of 2023, while most Israelis were praying on the last day of the holiday period, Hamas attacked Israeli communities. These radical Gazan groups murdered over 1,000 Israelis on sight - Jews, Christians, Muslims, and atheists. They did this with Iranian weapons under the guidance and direction of the Iranian regime. Their main aim was to derail the peace plan, which had seen significant progress since the earliest days of the Abraham Accords. What does that mean for the region and the future of peace and coexistence?

As the leader of the Islamic World, Saudi Arabia has championed the Arab Peace Initiative for many years. Saudi Arabia is not an easy negotiator. There is no way Saudi Arabia and the GCC monarchies will sign an agreement with Israel without guaranteeing the best interests of the Palestinian people. And the Crown Prince was making good progress with Israel.

Then, October 7 happened.

October 7 killed any chance for peace in the region and a better life for the Palestinian people. It set back all peace efforts by decades.

Understandably, any state on the planet would have been provoked by an attack of the magnitude of October 7. If a handful of armed Houthis had killed 1,200 Saudis or Emiratis in their homes and captured 240 hostages from their territory, the government would have fought the Houthis harshly. All anti-Houthi members of the Saudi Arabia or Emirati government would gain legitimacy to lead attacks on Houthi bases deep in Yemen. No human shields would have saved the Houthis from military action to recover the 240 hostages!

That is precisely what the Hamas attacks on Israel did.

The October 7 attacks have brought a lot of misery to the innocent civilians of Gaza. Many of them knew nothing about the planning and execution of the October 7 attacks. Unfortunately, after the attacks, Hamas hid behind these poor, innocent Gazans and endangered their lives.

Israel has used extreme force. Many Israelis are not happy with the extent to which Gazans have been killed in this October 7 war. Unfortunately, the innocents have had to pay a greater price for Hamas’ miscalculation.

The Arab Peace Plan with Israel involved a two-way negotiation, which was clearly voiced out by their ace diplomat, Prince Turki Al-Faisal. The idea is to get Israel to lay the groundwork to recognize a Palestinian state. On the other hand, the Palestinians should desire a state for themselves and work towards it. Prince Turki Al-Faisal’s recommendation was always to use peaceful means to protest and demand a Palestinian state. Such a start will open the path for creating a Palestinian state that will ultimately bring peace.

Then, October 7 happened.

October 7 was a blatant breach of everything the Arab Peace Plan stood for. And it was done with Iranian weapons and an Iranian guarantee that they would stop Israel from attacking Gaza.

Iran could do very little to protect ordinary Gazans.

Hezbollah has been delved a blow that no one imagined.

And all in all, whatever the objective of October 7 was, it has not been achieved. On October 9, Hamas members claimed they had captured enough Israeli soldiers to exchange for all Palestinians in Israeli prisons1. That did not materialize.

This shows the validity of the Arab Peace Plan championed by the Saudi and other GCC royal households. If it was heeded, the people of Gaza would be better off today than they have been in the past year.

Worse of all, October 7 has set the Palestinian people back by decades. All the gains the people of Gaza made since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005 have been reversed. This is unacceptable, and efforts must be made to prevent it from happening again.

Now, Israel’s hardliners can point at October 7 and say, “If we create a secular state like Jordan, Egypt, or Syria, it will become a dictatorship, and they will elect Hamas”2. Based on this, Israel can cogently raise concerns about a future Palestinian state since it is likely to be used as a launch pad.

That leaves only one option: a responsible peace partner who will underwrite any Palestinian transition to statecraft and self-determination. So far, the Arab Peace effort has been the most cogent and most consistent. Thus, it is time to reengineer it and make the best of the lessons of the post-October 7 era.

In conclusion, October 7 was a miscalculation on the part of Hamas. It is apparent that October 7 has caused more harm than good for everyone. Israelis are not proud of what their military has been forced to do in the past year. Hamas has not achieved any meaningful objectives. Palestinians pushing for statehood have been derailed by decades. Innocent Gazans have faced the worst humanitarian horrors imaginable. The time has come to listen to experienced Arab statesmen to create a practical and realistic plan to create win-win outcomes for all parties involved in the conflict.

1 The Economic Times. "Hamas says it has 'enough' Israeli captives to free all Palestinian prisoners" 9th October, 2023. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/hamas-says-it-has-enough-israeli-captives-to-free-all-palestinian-prisoners/articleshow/104245746.cms

2 Mordechai Kedar. Dr. Mordechai Kedar in a Heated Debate on SKY News Arabic. 12th May, 2024. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0zcboFuLo