RIYADH: A professor of international relations says diplomacy remains the only path to lasting peace in the Middle East, as the US announced on Friday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, hours after planned US-Iran talks in Switzerland were postponed.
Appearing on the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow with the Middle East and North Africa program at London’s Chatham House, said that war alone cannot deliver lasting results.
“If logic and rational thinking prevail, we see that wars don’t achieve their objectives,” Mekelberg told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen. Instead, he argued, diplomacy must take precedence, with military force reserved as a last resort rather than a first response.
“So, what’s the alternative? Diplomacy,” he said. “That’s what we haven’t seen for quite a while — while only diplomacy can resolve this very difficult issue … The tensions are real, but diplomacy is what can actually achieve a long-lasting and sustainable solution.”
According to Mekelberg, any durable diplomatic effort must come from within the Middle East, driven by regional actors who have learned from recent months and years that the conflict could worsen unless its root causes are addressed.
