SHANGHAI - The Palestine issue has existed for more than seven decades, and the latest round of the conflict between Palestine and Israel has lasted more than one year.

The Palestine issue is at the core of regional agendas despite efforts to sideline it, and is believed to be finally resolved. While addressing the urgent symptom of humanitarian disaster due to Israel’s military actions, the international community will have to work together to deal with the root cause of the problem, which is the hegemonic policy of external actors.
    
The most pressing aspect of the Palestine issue certainly should be to relieve the terrible humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the West Bank as well. The last thirteen months have seen the most serious humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip as caused deliberately by human behaviors. More than 43,000 people have lost their lives, most of them women and children. More than 86% of buildings in Gaza, according to reports, have been destroyed since October 2023. About 2 million people have been forced to move from one place to another time and again. Potential physical casualties and trauma are even harder to assess
   
Immediate ceasefire, as a precondition for any humanitarian relief, should prevail anything at the current stage of the conflict. Hamas’s proposal for the permanent withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip is reasonable, but Israel’s ambition is to keep the permanent freedom of taking military actions in Gaza, which is implied in Israel’s statement of the so-called new security mechanism. Despite difficulties, the international community should conscientiously make more efforts to pressure Israel for an unconditional and sustainable ceasefire. Otherwise, the humanitarian situation will grow even worse.
    
Besides the most urgent issue, the international community will have to work together to address the root cause of the issue. A Chinese medical saying goes that we need to treat the symptoms first when the disease is acute and treat the root cause when the disease becomes mild. The acute humanitarian disaster needs first-hand treatment to stop bleeding, but in the longer term, the international community will have to deal with some of the problems deeply behind the scenes. The current conflict is just one symptom of the disease, but if the root cause is not addressed, similar tensions could happen even more frequently. That is actually the reason why the stories of conflict have been repeated over the last decades.
    
Israel’s approach to maximizing its territorial and security interests, which has gone too far beyond UN General Assembly resolution 181 in 1947, is the reason behind the lasting conflict and the current atrocities. But why can Israel stay on this approach for so many years without being held accountable? The reasons are simply there that Israel’s aggressive policy has been unconditionally supported by external hegemonic actor.

For many years it was the U.S. that had supported Israel with its military building unproportionate to its requirement. The last year has seen that the U.S. not only had not reduced its assistance to Israel but had provided a large amount of military assistance to Israel worth about 18 billion dollars, which had even encouraged Israel for its aggressive military actions in Gaza and other parts of the region. The U.S. has also provided political support in various multilateral institutions sheltering Israel from any punishment and adopted obvious double standards on Israel’s nuclear program by intentionally closing its eyes.

The U.S. support and indulgence for Israel’s maximalist approach constituted the root cause of Israel’s aggressive policy. Without U.S. indulgence, Israel can never afford to pay the material and moral cost of its aggressions in the region.
    
Though the world has no reason to oppose the U.S. as a nation, it has every reason to oppose its hegemonic policy in the region, in particular on the Palestine issue. 

Some would argue that resistance forces in the region are the causes of instability and turmoil in the region. Such an argument exists in the U.S. and European countries. It also exists in non-Western countries, which have been influenced by the narratives of the West. But in reality, it is reasonably argued that today’s problem in the region and in some way in the world is that resistance against hegemony and power politics is far from enough.
    
Iran is among the very few countries that have contributed greatly to resistance against hegemonic policies of external actors in the region. Without Iran’s resistance, the region could have been in a more dangerous situation, and the humanitarian situation in Palestine could be even more serious.
    
The U.S. remained, remains and will remain to be the single most powerful actor for a long time in the world and in the region as well. But, fortunately, the world has awakened to the double-standard policy of the U.S. regarding Gaza and is noticing the growing efforts to reverse U.S. hegemonic policy. The unity of the Muslim world, and BRICS and SCO, as two examples, are seeing robust development.
    
The future will naturally see the growing efforts to reverse the U.S. hegemonic policy. However, the world should also be sober that the decline of the U.S. power will be a very long process with ups and downs, and it could be even longer for the U.S. to give up its mentality of maintaining hegemonic policy. The approaching Trump presidency could see even worse trajectory. While being optimistic about the final outcome, the world needs to be patient and resolute as well.
    
In one world, the trajectory of Palestine’s Nakba is in some way the reflection of U.S. hegemony, and its change will largely depend on how efforts to reverse U.S. hegemony will grow. The world certainly is seeing the growing of the trend. The legitimate cause of Palestinians will be finally achieved while the most urgent issue should be pushing for a ceasefire to remedy the terrible situation. While seeking imminent relief of the symptoms, countries should work together to reverse the hegemonic policy of external actors resolutely and patiently. That should be the cure.

Dr. Jin Liangxiang is a Senior Research Fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS)