David Makovsky, an expert from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, recommended regional cooperation and promoting a sense of hope to ease the conflict in Gaza at a lecture on Wednesday evening.
Makovsky, who is a senior fellow and director of the Washington Institute's "Project on the Middle East Peace Process," also lectures on Middle Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University. In Wednesday's lecture, he said that peace in the Middle East is more accessible than it may seem.
"The message is that we should try to foster partnership," Makovsky said. "That may not lead to a grand resolution tomorrow morning, but it will be a big step towards co-existence."
Summing up both sides of the conflict, he said that "Palestinians are bound to focus on the civilian losses. And Israel's going to say, ‘What would any country do under rocket fire?'"
Makovsky then highlighted the actors with mutual interests in the region, explaining that Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank all hope to deter Hamas.
The first step he proposed was securing the Egyptian border with Gaza, the site of underground weapons smuggling.
"If Egypt doesn't do its part, then Israel will move in tanks right along that border, and refugees will flood into Egypt," Makovsky said.
Meanwhile, Israeli leaders must provide evidence that stability is attainable in order to reduce skepticism towards cooperation and foster a societal context for peacemaking, he said.
"People need to see the connections between their daily lives and the big issues. If you don't see that, you're not gonna have the political capital to make concessions," Makovsky said. "Once they see it, they'll believe it."
The event was sponsored by the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel, the political science department, the College and Emory Hillel as part of Emory's "Israel Lecture Series."
"This is a model for how we can understand and discuss issues that do hit home, especially when those issues become contended and they don't have to be," Director of Emory Hillel Michael Rabkin said.
During the question-and-answer session that followed, an audience member asked why Israel is always "judged on a double standard."
"Why isn't the UN condemning the rockets that come in from Gaza?" he asked.
Makovsky replied that if urban warfare is the future, then Israel should designate safe zones and "maybe drop leaflets in Palestianian areas before they hit."
He added that Arab leaders should also sway public support towards working with Israel.
Anna Hartman ('03C) said both sides should "look at issues in a way to bring light and not heat. We can engage in thoughtful dialogue not influenced by passion.
Makovsky concluded the lecture by encouraging what he described as "engagement without illusions."
He emphasized that "the answer shouldn't be to just to give up. ... [It should be to] give some hope to the people on both sides of this conflict who do want this to end."
— Contact Prisca Pointdujour.