All political commentators, diplomats, and observers of the Middle East must remember a simple truth: The two years of war on Gaza cannot, and must not, be erased from analysis or history. The world before the war is not the same as the world after it.
Israel and its allies are already working tirelessly to close this dark chapter, to reduce history to one date, October 7, and to frame it as the only starting point, even linking it to the Holocaust. Their media machinery has worked relentlessly to portray that day as if the universe itself began there, so that everything that followed could be justified as “self-defence”. But Gaza changed the world. It polarised nations, divided societies, and exposed the deep hypocrisy that underlies the so-called liberal international order. For the first time in history, a genocide was broadcast live, supported by Western powers, while the rest of the world stood helpless, unable even to deliver food or medicines, or to stop starvation and agony. The UNSC remained silent. The General Assembly issued resolutions that meant nothing on the ground, and the International Criminal Court was punished for daring to act. The mask of moral superiority has fallen.
This silence has emboldened extremists everywhere. The fugitive from justice, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has become a model for those who see impunity as a licence to kill. If he is granted red-carpet immunity, others follow his path, local versions of the same brutality.
We are all trapped by the war on Gaza, victims of its consequences, no matter how far from the enclave we live. Our shared future depends on how the international community responds to this war and its aftermath. As the cannons cool and the dust settles, we must dare to ask the four essential questions: Why, Who, What, and Where.
Why did October 7 happen? A rational reading connects it not to a single day, but to 106 years of Palestinian suffering, beginning with the Balfour Declaration of 1917, when Britain promised a land it did not own to a people who had no claim over it. Our tragedy deepened in 1948, when 78 per cent of historical Palestine was taken, and continued in 1967, when the remaining 22 per cent was occupied.
Even after the PLO accepted a painful compromise to build a state on that 22 per cent, the so-called peace process brought only more settlements, more settlers, and more despair. Today, Palestinians are still denied their very existence. The US ambassador to Israel openly claims that “there is no such thing as the Palestinian people”. To ask why is not to justify violence but to understand its roots, because without truth, there can be no peace.
Yes, Hamas launched the October 7 attack. But how could a small, lightly armed group breach the world’s most fortified fence, equipped with automated machine guns and real-time surveillance? How did the most advanced intelligence system on Earth fail for over six hours, allowing fighters to move freely and livestream videos from Israeli territory? Why was communication in Gaza not cut, as any army under attack would do immediately?
These are not conspiracies; they are legitimate, unanswered questions.
What truly happened that day, and after? From the false claims of “40 beheaded babies” to unverified horror stories, the media became a weapon of manipulation. After two years of bombardment, the full scale of destruction in Gaza remains unknown. An independent UN-mandated investigation is needed to document what happened, what weapons were used, and who should be held accountable.
Where are we heading? If we answer the previous questions honestly, without Western interference, we can begin a new chapter of history based on justice and equality. The parameters exist: UN resolutions, international law, and the global consensus on a two-state solution. The apocalypse-minded zealots and messianic extremists who drive Israeli politics today do not seek peace but domination and erasure. True peace will only come when the world says, with one voice, “enough”, and applies the same rules of justice to all.
The war on Gaza has already redefined our world. It has tested every moral compass and exposed the emptiness of the West’s human-rights rhetoric. If we fail to learn from it, we risk a future where truth no longer matters and impunity becomes the new law.
To remember Gaza is to remember who we are, and who we must never become.
The writer is ambassador of the State of Palestine to India
