Jordan Daily – Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah highlighted the deep impact of Israel’s war on Gaza on the rest of the world, noting it has “exposed old fractures” and “divided people along new battle lines,” contributing to global polarization. She also emphasized that the current status quo of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not sustainable for either side.
“Peace cannot be achieved through violence It has to be achieved through negotiations, political process, even-handedness, and commitment,” Her Majesty said, at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles on Monday. “The only way that we can achieve security in our part of the world is through a negotiated peace, where Palestinians have not a promise of statehood, but actual statehood.”
“It all comes back down to an illegal occupation,” she added. “You want safety and security, we need to end the occupation, because you cannot have a safe and secure Israel while there is a grave injustice on their border.”
During an onstage conversation moderated by host of “Velshi” and MSNBC Chief Correspondent Ali Velshi, Her Majesty explained that “polarization leads to binary thinking. It makes us think of our world as: us versus them, left versus right, East versus West.”
The Queen highlighted the divisiveness and “selective empathy” applied in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, adding that people feel compelled to pick a side, causing the middle ground to shrink year after year.
“When it comes to the Palestinians, I think they’ve been pushed to the periphery, where their suffering has become almost unnoticed, and where they become almost a people unto whom anything can happen without consequence,” she said. “That’s why it’s important for us to actually find that middle ground.”
“People should put people first. What Palestinians want is not sympathy or special treatment. They just want the impartial application of the law,” Her Majesty explained.
Highlighting the staggering civilian death toll in Gaza, Queen Rania noted that the war has killed “more doctors, more aid workers, journalists, than any other conflict. It has killed 14,500 kids.” She also mentioned that, regardless of whether or not you choose to label Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, the fact that many are debating that designation is “shocking in and of itself.
The Queen noted that the world was rightfully outraged by the October 7 attacks, but questioned why mass deaths in Gaza have not warranted the same reaction. “You have to give human life equal value, and you have to place equal condemnation on human rights violations. You cannot have credibility without moral consistency,” she said.
Noting that the United States has an important role to play in resolving the conflict, the Queen urged the US, as an ally of Israel, to consider the war on Gaza’s lasting impact.
“Is this war making Israel safer? And, whatever Israel achieves in terms of short-term tactical gains against Hamas, aren’t they coming at a very heavy, long-term cost towards Israel’s security?” she asked, adding that the Gaza war has also had a heavy cost for Israel in terms of “reputational damage.”
Despite the many challenges, Her Majesty stressed that the Palestinian-Israel conflict is solvable. “If you ask most people, they roll their eyes and they say that the two-state solution is dead, that this conflict is intractable – and it is probably the most intractable conflict of our era,” Her Majesty said. “It’s not because we don’t know what needs to be done, but because there’s been a lack of seriousness and commitment and political will to get it done.”
Paraphrasing Palestinian scholar Edward Said, she said, “The situation that we’re in now is not inevitable. It is a result of choices, historic choices, made by men and women. It is manmade and it can be remade.”
The 2024 Milken Institute Global Conference, held under the theme “Shaping a Shared Future,” is expected to draw more than 4,500 attendees, including global leaders, executives, philanthropists, experts, and innovators. The four-day event is hosted by the Milken Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank with a focus on accelerating measurable progress, particularly in the fields of financial, physical, mental, and environmental health.
