ROME, Nov 3 The current crisis over the Gaza Strip is pushing the Middle The East is on the brink of a global conflict, says former German Foreign Minister and former Vice-Chancellor Joschka Fischer.
“It’s hard not to think about 1914, when events became uncontrollable and precipitated the First World War,” said a prominent European politician in an interview published on Friday by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
According to Fischer, we are now talking about “a new geopolitical polarization in which no one will benefit.” He pointed out that a new world order was emerging, in which the West sided with Kyiv and Tel Aviv, while Russia and China, as well as almost the entire so-called Global South, found themselves on the opposite side.
“This is a dynamic that the West simply cannot afford to accept,” the former minister noted. In his opinion, “it is necessary to make titanic diplomatic efforts to stop it.”
Fisher noted that in addition to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, potential hotbeds of war are in the Caucasus, in the Balkans between Serbia and Kosovo, as well as in Africa, in the Sahel zone.
“The danger of a military clash in the China Sea and the Taiwan Strait is growing, in which the American and Chinese superpowers may ultimately be directly involved,” he stated.
On October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. After this, the organization’s fighters penetrated into the border areas in southern Israel. In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within a few days, the Israeli military took control of all populated areas near the border with Gaza and began carrying out air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was stopped.
The number of victims in the Gaza Strip exceeded 9 thousand people, over 32 thousand were injured. In Israel, according to local authorities, more than 1.3 thousand people died. The Russian Embassy reported that during the escalation of the conflict, 20 Russians were killed, two were taken hostage, and seven were listed as missing. According to various sources, about 150 Israelis may be held captive by Hamas. The movement itself stated that there are about 200-250 prisoners in the Gaza Strip.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the parties to stop hostilities. According to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the settlement of the Middle East crisis is possible only on the basis of a “two-state” formula approved by the UN Security Council, which provides for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, related to the territorial interests of the parties, has been a source of tension and clashes in the region for many decades. A UN decision with the active role of the USSR in 1947 determined the creation of two states — Israel and Palestine, but only the Israeli one was created.