A Middle-East Multi-Front War: Is There a Road to Peace?

The Middle East is yet again dominating international headlines, risking a region-wide war between Israel and its adversaries. The orchestrated Hamas-led terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023 led to the deadliest episode in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, given Israel’s disproportionate military campaign. What started out as a relatively limited, though full-blown operation, targeting predominantly the Gaza Strip and resulting in an intolerably high number of civilian casualties and an unprecedented destruction of civilian infrastructure, has in recent weeks turned into an increasingly uncontrollable transnational spiral of violence. With Iran and its Lebanon- and Yemen-based proxies firing missiles onto Israel, and with the Israeli Defence Forces systematically shelling Lebanon and Houthi strongholds. As the international outcry over the ever-growing death toll and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, as well as increasingly in Lebanon, grows louder, the current escalation has the potential to enflame the entire region. This is further aggravated by a divided West which seems reluctant – or powerless – to impose itself and actively work towards an end of hostilities. Against this backdrop, this expert panel will critically assess current conflict dynamics and ponder questions, such as: What needs to happen to put in place a lasting ceasefire between, on the one hand, Israel and, on the other, Iran and its allies? Will the US presidential elections bring about peace or further embolden Israeli prime minister Netanyahu to continue with maximalist policies and demands? Are the currently evolving multiple conflict lines fuelling the North-South geopolitical divide? What is the interplay between the current regional escalation and Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine? Is a two-state solution for Israel’s conflict with Palestinians still a viable remedy for a lasting peace, given the events of the last twelve months? Can the seemingly ever unfolding conflict lines in the region offer inroads for Europe to exercise its presumptive transformative relevance, or will it remain divided and sidelined?