Israel’s former pm: a two-state solution is the only solution

WORLD

WITH A WAR RAGING BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS, it’s hard to imagine a new dawn of peace. The violence threatens to paralyze the moral and political imaginations of Israelis and Palestinians alike, deepening the impression that accommodation will remain forever out of reach. But to hear one of Israel’s elder statesmen tell it, now is precisely the moment to resurrect the goal of a peace process.

“The right way is to look to the two-state solution, not because of justice to the Palestinians, which is not the uppermost on my priorities, but because we have a compelling imperative to disengage from the Palestinians to protect our own security, our own future, our own identity,” former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tells TIME.

Barak, who led the country from 1999 to 2001 and is one of its most decorated military figures, came closer than any other Israeli leader to securing a peace deal with the Palestinians. In a wide-ranging interview conducted over Zoom on Oct. 27, he discussed the possible endgames for Gaza after the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future, and how the Oct. 7 massacre has transformed the Israeli psyche. The following has been edited and condensed.

What was your first reaction when you learned of the attack? It was immediately clear that it’s the most severe blow that we suffered since the establishment of the State of Israel. Israel was established to create one place on earth where Jews can live and go to sleep in their own quiet. For my generation, our formative experience in life was the 1973 war. For people who are about the age I was in 1973, and even younger, this will be the formative experience of their life. It will define what they think about Israel and the Zionist project.

Why was Israel so unprepared?It was a major failure of our intelligence. It will be clarified only when there’s a full investigation.

How much responsibility does Netanyahu bear?Netanyahu used to say that anyone who is against a two-state solution should support his attitude toward Hamas, which was basically to let them be alive and kicking. He basically backed them by allowing the Qataris to send some $1.5 billion over five years into the Gaza Strip; about half of it was used by Hamas to build its military capabilities.

It is this element that disturbs the Israeli people. Everyone remembe