Welcome back to This Week in Peace, our weekly summary of events in global peacebuilding.
This week, a ceasefire in Gaza is closer than it has been since November, Switzerland announced plans to host a peace summit to bring peace in Ukraine, as Ukrainian civilians remain under threat, Colombia’s “total peace” initiative hit yet another roadblock, and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate marks 1,000 days as a political prisoner in Belarus.
Hope for a ceasefire in Gaza, as Palestinians continue to face famine and bombs
A much-needed and long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza appears close after months of fruitless negotiations, although Israel insists it will follow through on its plans to attack Rafah, where over a million Palestinian civilians are sheltering. Israeli ground forces have withdrawn from most of the Gaza strip and have finally opened additional ports of entry for aid, which is desperately needed as much of Gaza faces famine. Negotiations are ongoing between representatives of Israel and Hamas, with American, Egyptian, and Qatari officials helping to mediate. American pressure has played a role in this new approach – following an airstrike on an unarmed humanitarian convoy run by World Central Kitchen, which killed 7 aid workers – with the Biden administration finally willing to discuss conditioning aid to Israel to protect Palestinians and increase flows of aid.
Negotiations have found some obstacles, but with Biden publicly calling for a six-to-eight week ceasefire and figures such as the former head of Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security agency) have called for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The condition of the remaining hostages in Gaza, and the far-right members of the Israeli government, could further complicate efforts for a negotiated ceasefire, which would be disastrous. While the political situation seems to have shifted significantly, the reality for Palestinian civilians on the ground remains dire, and a ceasefire, which would allow for significantly more humanitarian aid to reach them, remains desperately needed. While Israel insists its war on Gaza will continue, international pressure can help ensure that any post-ceasefire fighting will not see the same horrific civilian death tolls, which has seen Gaza’s civilian infrastructure systematically destroyed. Israel’s conduct has raised serious concerns over what procedures are implemented by the IDF to prevent civilian deaths. Netanyahu faces renewed domestic pressure to find a deal to return the hostages, although the far-right members of his coalition reject any potential deal.
Read our recent story on The Abraham Initiatives, an Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding group, here.
Ukrainian civilians under attack as Switzerland plans peace summit
This week, Switzerland announced that it would be hosting a peace summit in mid-June to work to find a peaceful resolution to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Swiss officials said that over 100 countries would be invited, including the US (with Biden potentially attending) and Russia. The summit is unlikely to find a full resolution, however – Russia declined to attend and reiterated that it would not agree to peace until its “goals” are met. As the state which is solely responsible for this conflict, having launched an illegal invasion of Ukraine (for the second time in 10 years), Russia’s refusal to attend dooms the summit before it has even begun, and makes any peace contingent on international acceptance of its conduct and motivations for the war.
Refusing to even discuss peace unless the international community legitimizes the illegal seizure of Ukrainian territory, denies Ukraine’s sovereignty and right to choose its own foreign policy, and leaves war crimes unpunished – from Bucha to Mariupol to the constant targeting of civilian infrastructure – means that the people of Ukraine and Russia will be forced to endure more of this horrific war. Recent missile strikes that destroyed Kyiv’s largest power plant, part of an ongoing effort to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, illustrate the danger to civilians as long as the fighting continues, and the ongoing willingness of Russia to target civilians across Ukraine.
Colombia’s ELN guerillas suspend peace talks, the latest blow to “total peace”
In another complication to Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” initiative, the largest remaining leftist rebel group in Colombia, the ELN, announced they would suspend peace talks planned for later this month. The group’s leadership objected to the government’s parallel engagement with one of its regional factions, in order to carry out a demobilization initiative. Colombia has had success in peacefully demobilizing armed groups in the past, most notably the FARC, the largest leftist guerrilla group, and rightwing paramilitaries linked to drug traffickers and the military. While the ELN did not end the peace process, and there have been some recent successes as part of the “total peace” drive, this is the latest impediment to Petro’s aspirations to end Colombia’s decades-long civil conflict, which has involved armed groups from across the political spectrum and criminal groups, and a long history of abuses carried out by all sides, including the government.
Read our recent article on environmental peacebuilding here.
Peace prize laureate marks 1,000 days in prison for fighting for human rights in Belarus
Ales Bialiatski, one of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, has now been imprisoned in Belarus for over 1,000 days, for what are widely seen as politically motivated charges linked to his human rights advocacy. Alexander Lukashenko has ruled since the end of the Soviet Union, and has long been referred to as “Europe’s last dictator”. Repression in Belarus intensified following a widespread violent crackdown on protests following a 2020 election widely recognized as having been rigged, with dissidents and human rights defenders frequently targeted by state security forces. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is also a strong supporter of Russia’s war on Ukraine, allowing Russia to use his country to launch attacks on Ukraine, and hosting Russian tactical nuclear weapons.
