WHEN a faction acts alone without realizing the consequences, it must have calculations for every reaction, instead of just deliberately awakening a monster like the Israeli monster that is thirsty for blood and destruction.

In doing so, it commits a foolishness that no one can justify, no matter how glamorous it is to excite the masses. Chants do not restore the soul of a dead person, or build a house that gets destroyed. Therefore, lessons must be present in the mind of the leader when he plans any event.

In this regard, I remember when the Arab Summit Conference was held in Baghdad, after the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had signed the Camp David Agreement. I met him on the same day and he told me, “The important thing is that I get the Israelis’ signature. The Arab reactions can be overcome later, when the Arabs realize what benefit they and Egypt will get from this agreement.”

At that time, the international atmosphere was comfortable about such a big step, and US President Jimmy Carter put pressure on it to succeed. He linked it to the conservative Christian religious dimension. However, Carter paid the price for this by not winning the elections for the second time, as the Jewish lobby was the echo of the voice of Jewish extremism in Israel that rejected a solution based on two states - Palestinian and Israeli.

That day, Cairo stood firm in its position, and years later, the Arabs returned to it when they realized that it had overcome Israeli arrogance with peace.

It is true that the scene in some of its details is different from what it was in the 1973 war, and the apparent results to date are different from what was in that war.

However, what is certain is that everyone must sit at the negotiating table and realize that solutions through fire, killing and destruction will be a loss for both parties, especially the weaker party, which is the Palestinian.

Today, Gaza has been destroyed, and the demand for the displacement of its residents to Sinai has become a general Western position. When the number of people displaced from their homes reaches 1.4 million people, the number of dead and wounded reach more than 20,000, and the number of homes destroyed is about 17,000, victory will become dull and costly. Neither the Al-Qassam Brigades nor Hamas will benefit from it, while the Israeli government insists on eradicating them.

This is because the official Arab position was not up to the level of the event, and there was no help, given the magnitude of the tragedy that the people of Gaza are experiencing.

On the other hand, the areas controlled by the National Authority are living in peace, despite the skirmishes caused by the Jihad and Hamas groups in the West Bank. This is due to the fact that the authority was not involved in this process.

The world rejected the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and mobilized to support Israel. Tel Aviv was crowded with Western visitors, including presidents, foreign and defense ministers, and now the United States is mobilizing its military forces to support it.

I beg to ask - Did the Hamas leadership believe that the world would stand idle when it saw that all peace attempts had gone in vain?

Today everyone realizes that what happened on October 7 was a mistake, and the barbaric Israeli reaction was also a mistake.

However, this reminds us of what the leader of Hezbollah said after the end of the war in 2006 - “If I had known that kidnapping two Israeli soldiers would lead to this war that lasted 33 days, we would definitely not have undertaken it.”

This is not how the destinies of people are managed, especially when the weaker party has no support.

This is why it is necessary to learn the Egyptian lesson in 1979 when Cairo won peace over Israel, and learn how leaders should be.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times