Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “There is no alternative to the two-state solution”, says Montpellier resident Mohed Altrad

L’homme d’affaires montpelliérain Mohed Altrad appelle au dialogue. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

Le Montpelliérain, propriétaire du groupe éponyme et né en Syrie, a signé le 1er décembre, dans La Tribune Dimanche, un texte dans lequel il appréhende le conflit israélo-palestinien avec mesure et nuance. Pour Midi Libre, il s’en explique.

Why did you decide to write this text, at this precise moment? ?

I am, like everyone else, upset by the images that we see again and again. And I am very worried about national cohesion, here and now, in France. We absolutely must find a way to reduce the tension. And for that, we have to succeed in talking to each other.

You talk about the importance of understanding and “seeing” the other: according to you, this is the key to a step towards a resolution of this conflict ?

In this conflict, more than in all the others, the parties do not understand each other because they have ignored each other since the beginning: the Israelis dreamed of a “land without people for a people without land”, the Palestinians have not understood the strength of the Zionist project and the impact of the Holocaust on the conscience of Westerners.

You cannot resolve a conflict if you deny the other side the simple fact of existing.

Do not the diehards on both sides embody the impossibility of resolving the conflict? ?

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Yes, that is correct. That is why we must not let them monopolize the discussion. In war, there is always a reflex of unity behind the fighters and a dehumanization of the enemy.

In Israel, citizens remember the Gaza war as the conscripts, the dead in combat, the question of hostages. In Gaza or the West Bank, the Israelis are no longer seen as anything other than anonymous soldiers who kill and destroy.

Peace comes the day enemies speak to each other with distrust, sometimes with hatred, with all the rancor in the world. But they speak to each other. And they seek a path to peace. This is the path that the belligerents must follow: the return of the hostages, a ceasefire, and a reconstruction of Gaza and the Gazans that will take a long time. We must give everyone a little hope. Otherwise, a new cycle of violence will resume sooner or later.

Is the so-called two-state solution still the one you are calling for??

There is no alternative to the two-state solution. Now it remains to be defined precisely because it can take different forms. I do not believe that the division of the territory assigned to the Palestinians is the solution today: 750,000 Israeli settlers are installed in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Do we seriously believe that they will leave ? Or that we will compensate for the villages lost by the Palestinians with arid territories in the Negev desert ? We must be creative and think differently.

Do you fear an even greater importation of this conflict into France ?

Yes, of course. This importation began with the increase in anti-Semitic acts since the beginning of the Israeli response to the Hamas terrorist attack. It is very worrying. And it is upsetting to think that today in France, some of our compatriots feel threatened in their being, in their convictions, in their religious practice simply because they are Jewish.

We must fight against this and I believe that we should not limit ourselves to formal condemnations. There is work to be done with young people: through schools of course, but also through those who speak to young people today, I mean influencers, on TikTok and YouTube.

Is it still possible to express a nuanced position on this conflict? ?

Yes, I believe so. And above all, I believe that it is necessary. We must not let a situation develop where dialogue is no longer possible, in families, between friends, between communities. We must have the courage of nuance and the spirit of moderation.

What did the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime inspire in you, born in Syria? ?

We do not yet know what type of governance this will lead to. It is therefore urgent not to write too soon, not to speak too soon. But this period of Assad father and son will remain like that of the long night of Syria. Syria where, from now on, everything must be rebuilt, everything.

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