Understanding the Real Hurdle in Middle East Peace Efforts

The Middle East is now holding together on the back of very fragile, temporary truces: the U.S.-Iran deal of April 8, and the accord between the president and head of the Lebanese armed forces from April 17. These interludes before the final peace must now become the permanent peace in the region, and it’s entirely based on diplomatic confidence, neutral mediation and complete cessation of any kinetic activity. But some forces are working against a permanent settlement, and they are very busy spreading lies, and making an effort to prick a few holes in this trust:

Pakistan at this time has proven to be a no-nonsense and a reliable and vital broker of this controversy due to its tether with both Washington and Tehran. This is the mediator, though, and it is now vital to delegitimize this mediator. These forces seek to demean Pakistan, weaken its credibility and divert Iranian hardliners from the “Islamabad peace process”, by overtones in amplifying the sudden rise of militant violence in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and seeding digital environment with a flood of speeches likening Islamabad as a compromised “U.S. proxy”. This fake news of provoking Pakistan to host Iranian aircraft was a smokescreen meant to plumb the last oasis of good will to foil one of the few nations still willing to meet the practical challenge of bridging this civilisational divide. In an earlier official press release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has presented Pakistan’s position on the matter categorically opposing the baseless accusations.

This pattern is an indication of a strategy being followed. Israel has developed a program of misinformation as its military game plan; when they stop bombing, they aren’t stopping their media operation. It is giving the world false discourses, to disrupt all those who aim to bring peace and make all neutral nations suspect. That’s part of what came to the surface during Israeli PM Netanyahu’s first-ever interview with CBS News. In the lead up to the interview, a story had been leaked on Pakistan’s reportedly supporting Iran. Netanyahu then singled out Pakistan in his verbal assault. It was severely and aggressively promoted over Indian social media platforms against Pakistan. Israel can’t want peace: the U.S. can. This was done on purpose to derail the peace process before it could take off. Israel has never been more afraid of peace than war.

Nothing of the sort could happen in the region; lies were spread about Saudi Arabia secretly attacking Iran so that no Arab regime would be able to openly seek dialogue without being branded a ‘southern traitor’. Israel does not seek unity among the Arabs—mares of success it could become if it did—it seeks their silence, silenced by fear and by division. Shaking out the ground with unconfirmed reports alleging that Saudi Arabia secretly bombed Iranian soil is a pointed ploy designed to embarrass Tehran, force a public response and break the passive shift of diplomacy between the various Gulf kingdoms and Iran that has kept a region on the brink of conflict from going down to war.

The Netanyahu visit to UAE built on a false narrative and rumors of “secret” deployment of the Iron Dome were designed to substantiate a false image of Abu Dhabi as a secret military partner, spark regional backlash and complicate the Arab consensus. To “arouse domestic unrest within a sovereign state…” is a technique used by the Israeli military to create disruptions within Iraq. This deliberate fog – this drone strike in Erbil, which could not be confirmed, with a wave of unverified accusations and a general atmosphere of mistrust that shook potential alliances – is perhaps the age-old modus operandi of Israel, for when it comes to investigation, it does not want to wait.

Falsely accusing Iran of using a Chinese spy satellite was meant to create an environment in which China could not play a diplomatic role and therefore the number of possible mediators dropped to zero. Huge civilian demolitions in the “Yellow Line” buffer zone, taking place inside an active ceasefire, are an operational provocation intended to provoke Hezbollah into initiating a response to incite it to retaliate and get the ceasefire agreement back on track, taking the responsibility for the collapse of the two-year truce. Such “armed” infiltration on Bubiyan Island through the IRGC can drive “neutral” Gulf countries such as Kuwait toward preparedness to take an active role in military intervention, with a shrunken range of peaceful choices.

These actors are doing their utmost to involve the peace brokers, smear neutral states with painted pacts, stir-up front-line militias to the peak level of paranoia and make it politically and strategically impossible for any side to sign a permanent peace settlement. Each and every allegation Israel tosses into the international media is a deliberate operation of aggression, not against forces, but against the concept of a conflict that can be negotiated — instead of completely wiped out Palestinian and regional resistance.

Israel knows peace negotiations cannot and will not happen in chaos, so it creates chaos as necessary and encourages the gullible media to provide sensational headlines to no questions asked, no facts double-checked, to act as a willing amplifier of a propaganda machine designed not to help but to keep diplomacy from happening. The world must come to a realization that the Israeli propaganda is not spin or exaggeration, but a legitimate effort by the Israeli state to keep the truth from having a chance to create the necessary trust that leads to peace and a just peace is one thing that the Israeli government would not stand for.

The real mediators, will be held in good estimate by Pakistan and other countries, rather than smears. Either we let disinformation and provocations derail the fragile truces or we demand accountability, verification and a real dialogue to unlock this region that is a crossroads. There is a way to peace, but until those who profit from perpetual war are exposed and isolated it will not be there.