Under the rubble of Rafah: A testament to the failure of international diplomacy

Written by – Elijah J. Magnier:

Palestinians have once again embarked on a journey of internal migration, moving from the Egyptian border town of Rafah to Deir al-Balah, northwest of Khan Younis, in search of safer havens as the Israeli military began bombing the city. Egypt has taken a definitive stance by blocking the potentiality of a second mass migration of Palestinians into Sinai. This move would spoil Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ambitions to annex more Palestinian territory in Gaza if Egypt were to open its borders to them. This scenario underlines a profound failure of the current global order and the dominance of the United States, as none of Netanyahu’s allies have been able to halt, even temporarily, the brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.

At the Munich International Security Conference, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that the Gaza crisis “epitomised the impasse in international relations.” He believes that “the world is facing existential threats, and the global community is being more divided and fragmented than ever in the past 75 years.” Indeed, the inability of international institutions, in particular the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, to manage or effectively resolve conflicts poses a significant threat to global peace and security. It underscores the urgent need for a reassessment and reformulation of international law to ensure its fair and impartial application. The unilateral actions of the United States and its dominance of global affairs have failed to bring peace and have become part of the problem rather than the solution. This has been demonstrated by numerous incidents, including Israel’s destructive campaign in Gaza.