Dear peace activists,
“A highly armed army, ever more isolation and surveillance, does not provide more security for Israel. That is the lesson of the terrible terror of October 7,” according to an ARD commentary from October 25, 2023.
The Combatants for Peace, former fighters from Israel and Palestine, state: “As part of this centuries-old violent conflict, we know its price and futility. More than ever in the past, we assert today: There is no military solution to the conflict; violence begets violence; revenge fuels revenge.”
Gideon Levy of the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz expressed this in the Tagesthemen interview on November 7, 2023: “There is only a perspective for the future if the international community turns to Israel and the Palestinians to say, ‘Enough is enough. Now is the time for a solution.’ You need something that is fundamentally just for the Palestinians as well. Otherwise, we will never be safe.”
Russia is also currently failing with its war in Ukraine due to its military security logic. However, Ukraine and NATO have also failed to ensure lasting security through further expansion of NATO.
However, we can learn from the experiences in the Middle East, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Mali, as well as from positive experiences in Kenya, Somalia and elsewhere.
Germany should use its power for the sustainable overcoming of the spirals of trauma and violence through joint security structures – in the Middle East in the form of a Conference for Security and Cooperation in the Middle East (KSZMNO).
As the Rethinking Security initiative, we have published these and other impulses “Rethinking Security Structures” in a current paper, which can be found on our homepage sicherheitneudenken.de.
We look forward to your approval and/or your suggestions: Do you also think that these impulses would enrich the MSC? Please send an email to vorstand@mskveraendern.de
With warm greetings,
Ralf Becker
Coordinator of the Rethinking Security Initiative