Welcome back to This Week in Peace, our weekly summary of events in global peacebuilding.
This week, we cover continued efforts to find a peaceful solution to the war in Gaza, as Palestinian civilians face continued threats amid the ongoing Israeli ground operation. In Bosnia, a Serb leader is put on trial, which threatens the fragile state of peace in the country. Peace was on the agenda at the COP 28 climate conference in Dubai. And the leaders of Turkey and Greece pledged to maintain a peaceful relationship in a landmark meeting in Athens.
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The War in Gaza
Last week, we covered, with some optimism, the weeklong pause in fighting in Gaza, accompanied by a prisoner exchange that freed dozens of hostages. Unfortunately, that deal broke down, as the leaders of Israel and Hamas rejected peace in favor of continued fighting. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have begun to advance into the major city of Khan Younis, forcing many Palestinians to flee further south. The UN says that nearly 1.9 million Palestinians, around 80% of the territory’s population, have been forced to flee their homes, amid widespread destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes and the ongoing ground offensive. A peace deal is desperately needed to protect civilians and end the cycle of violence, but there is a great deal of uncertainty of what the immediate postwar reality will be in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the IDF will have control over Gaza’s security following the war, which, along with the remaining hostages held by Hamas, will complicate any peace negotiations.
The ongoing conflict threatens peace for all who live in the region. The cycle of violence must end, in order to prevent another destructive conflict in the future. There is some hope, as some peace activists in Israel have continued their work to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians.
Read our recent story on how the media has covered this conflict here, and you can also read our piece on the Israelis and Palestinians working to build peace and reconciliation. Our past and future stories on Israel and Palestine are available here.
COP 28: Progress and Setbacks
The COP 28 climate conference continues in Dubai, not without controversy as the fight against climate change is overshadowed by the ongoing war in Gaza. Attendees of the conference, including heads of state, raised the issue and called for an end to the war. Some protestors linked the ongoing war with threats to the climate and the environment in Gaza, calling for any peace agreement to also include environmental justice. The relationship between building peace and addressing climate change was a topic of discussion as well. The EU and UNICEF both endorsed initiatives to support peacebuilding in conflict-fragile countries that will be heavily impacted by climate change. However, these constructive steps were overshadowed by debates over the war in Gaza and the role of fossil fuels. Further progress on this front is essential, as many experts have warned that the effects of climate change will threaten peace around the world.
We recently published a story on the role climate change plays in increasing tensions between herders and farmers in Nigeria, which you can watch here. You can also read more of our stories on the link between climate change, peace, and conflict here.
Positive Engagement between Greece & Turkey
Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens this week, where the two signed a declaration of friendship. The two states, neighbors and NATO allies, have a long history of rivalry, with recent disputes over territorial boundaries in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean driving fears of open conflict. However, on this visit Erdogan took a radically different tone compared to his previous statements on these issues, saying he wants to turn the Aegean into a “sea of peace”. The two leaders announced agreements on migration, allowing Turkish citizens visa-free travel to Greece, and on other subjects. The meeting has raised hopes that a peaceful resolution can be found to the long-running disputes between the two states, which is crucial to avoiding a potentially disastrous conflict.
You can read more of our stories on Turkey here.
Peace is Threatened in Bosnia
This week, the trial of Milord Dodik, the president of the Republika Srpska, the Serb political entity within Bosnia & Herzegovina, began in Sarajevo. Under the Daytona Agreement, which ended a destructive civil war in the 1990s, the country has a weak central government and two constituent political entities, one of which is the Republika Srpska. Dodik is charged with defying an international peace envoy who enforces the Agreement, having signed laws seen as threatening the state of peace. Dodik is close with Vladimir Putin, sanctioned by the U.S., and has said that he would declare independence from Bosnia if Donald Trump is elected to a second term as president of the United States. This trial is a high-profile demonstration of the fragile state of peace in Bosnia. It is crucial that both sides prioritize constructive engagement with each other, to avoid another civil conflict.
