Supported by
By Ami AyalonGilead Sher and Orni Petruschka
Mr. Ayalon is a former director of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency. Mr. Sher is a former senior peace negotiator and was the chief of staff for Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Mr. Petruschka is a philanthropist and a social activist.
The Israeli strategist Yehoshafat Harkabi once observed that in military doctrine, the enemy is a target to destroy, but in statesmanship, the enemy is a political entity to engage. Israel’s tragedy today is that its leaders see only targets. Statesmanship — the work of building a future beyond the battlefield — has all but disappeared.
This is the moment to move on from intense military operations to political statecraft. As this latest round of hostilities with Iran draws to a close after the formidable U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Israel is still mired in a grinding war of attrition in Gaza. This should be a stark reminder to its leaders that only diplomacy can end wars, and that advancing toward a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a prerequisite to a better future.
