End of a Cycle? UN Urges Meaningful Political Process to Stem Renewed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has once again taken a violent turn in 2021, with Israeli forces carrying out a large-scale raid on a Palestinian refugee camp and killing twelve Palestinians and one Israeli soldier in the process.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has urged a “meaningful political process” to stem this renewed violence, as some Arab countries have announced aid for the Jenin camp and Israel has launched its largest West Bank operation since 1967.

On Friday, an Israeli military raid on the northern West Bank city of Nablus caused a firefight that resulted in two Palestinian militants killed and three injured. The Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades, the armed wing of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), claimed the two dead as its members.

The incident comes after an Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian attacker near Nablus, which the Islamist movement Hamas claimed responsibility for. The UN Secretary-General has noted that while Israel has “legitimate concerns over its security”, escalation is not the answer.

“It simply bolsters radicalisation and leads to a deepening cycle of violence and bloodshed,” he said. He further noted that restoring the hope of the Palestinian people in a meaningful political process and leading to a two-state solution is an essential contribution by Israel to its own security.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has decided to donate $30 million to “help rebuild the Palestinian city of Jenin after the barbaric and criminal attack” by Israel, while the United Arab Emirates announced it will provide $15 million to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

This year’s violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed at least 192 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.

The United Nations’ call for a meaningful political process to stem this renewed violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raised hopes that the cycle of violence may come to an end.