The Geopolitical Era at the Crossroads: Insights from Diplomat Jorge Dezcallar on the Conflict Between Israel and Hamas

Vitoria-Gasteiz

“We are at the end of a geopolitical era that began in 1945 with the victors of World War II dividing up the world in their own way and with countries that question it now, especially countries that have grown a lot economically and want to do so politically.” This is the context in which diplomat Jorge Dezcallar explains the “conflict” between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has the world startled and moved these days. These countries object to the distribution and international standards in force, in their opinion, to the point of pointing out that “today it would not be possible to unanimously approve the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Back then, the 53 countries of the UN were a lot more homogeneous than now”.

He, among other positions, ambassador to Morocco, the Holy See and the United States; director of the CNI; as well as general director of Foreign Policy for Africa and the Middle East, he has visited Cadena SER’s ‘La Ventana Euskadi’ on the occasion of his participation in the III Legal Conference For the word, which are being developed today and tomorrow at the University of Deusto. There he has given his opinion on the “conflict” between Hamas and Israel. “I prefer to call it a conflict than a war because it adapts more to the diversity of the confrontation because it is not a war between two states and two armies, but a state against a terrorist group,” he explains.

Despite his experience, Dezcallar has no answers. “I assume that I am wrong. I thought that the war in Ukraine was not going to happen because a nineteenth-century war of territorial expansion had no place in the twenty-first century. We did not see the fall of the Soviet Union coming, the Arab Spring…so we are going to try to draw conclusions about why it could have happened and what consequences it could have,” he assured.

Returning to the new international order that is the backdrop to this conflict, as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine or China’s threat to Taiwan, Dezcallar cites Magris. “When one world ends and the other is not yet born, it is the time of monsters. The great risk that exists now is what Americans call decoupling, with incompatible financial or Internet systems,” he says.

Escalation risk

He also sees a risk of escalation, although “contained if it refers to Iran.” In his opinion, “there is no proof that he was behind” the Hamas attack on October 7. “It is one thing for Iran to sympathize and another for it to have been planned, promoted and directed,” he believes. “Iran has a lot of big problems with women, with sanctions, other more immediate problems.” But he believes that there is a risk of escalation, since “if this continues over time and atrocious events occur such as the bombing of the hospital, lone wolves may emerge. And if the Arab communities see that their countrymen are dying of hunger, there will be more demonstrations and will force governments to take sides”

When it comes to distributing responsibilities for what happened, he is only categorical in condemning Hamas. “There are some very bad bad guys. Terrorism has no justification.” From there, “the blame is widely distributed.” And he continues, “Israel is to blame because it has not implemented the UN resolutions that called for the creation of two states for decades. The Palestinians do not miss the opportunity to lose opportunities, they could have had two states and they did not want to…” “I believe that there are a fundamental cause that is the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. That is the underlying mother of the enmity that exists between Palestinian groups towards Israel. If the Palestinians do what they do it is for a reason. Another thing is that what they do is well,” he concludes, before remembering that “Hamas is not Palestine” and that “the first victim in a war is the truth. We must take everything they tell us with a grain of salt because there are many people interested in hiding the truth.”

Magistrate Emilio Lamo de Espinosa is the director of the conferences. Litigation magistrate, president of the territorial section of the Professional Association of the Judiciary in the Basque Country, he conceived the legal conferences For the Word as a communication tool in search of understanding. “My professional experience in the judiciary is that judges, state lawyers, prosecutors, journalists…we worked in sealed compartments. I wanted to do something in Bilbao and discuss current issues with people who are great communicators and who reach everyone” , he tells us.

In this third edition, in addition to Dezcallar, topics as varied as the application of the Trans Law have been addressed; justice and technology; violence in sport or money laundering from the field of property registrars and notaries. This Friday the sessions continue with two tables: one on the Economic Agreement and another on the property responsibilities derived from the pandemic.

2023-10-19 17:50:30
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