The debate this week has been dominated by the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestine, where mediation efforts seem to be failing. At the same time, terrorist attacks are being directed at schoolgirls in Afghanistan and European co-operation is being questioned.
The issue of real estate in East Jerusalem has caused the conflict between Israel and Palestine to flare up again and in the last week the attacks took turns. Anders Lindberg believes in the responsibility for breaking the spiral of violence Aftonbladet lies on Israel because they have a much larger military force and need to stop the violence and threats of evictions in East Jerusalem. Aftonbladet also draws attention to the fact that a special focus is placed on what US President Joe Biden will do.
World leaders have appealed to both sides of the ceasefire conflict and the United States has in a mediation attempt sent down US Deputy Secretary of State Hady Amr, but it seems uncertain how successful the mediation will be.
- A prerequisite for mediation to succeed is also that the parties want it. Hamas has signaled that it wants to, but Israel does not yet appear to be there. They seem to want to teach Hamas a lesson to get into a better negotiating position, says Anders Persson, Middle East expert in Sydsvenskan.
More states need to recognize Palestine and the EU should look for possible breaches of agreements in the association agreements with Israel according to a debate article in Omvärlden. The Social Democrat article writers believe that the solution lies in recognizing Palestine as an independent state and that Sweden should try to get more states to recognize Palestine according to the 1967 borders that Sweden did in 2014.
Conflicts escalate in several places
Even in Kabul, Afghanistan, the violence escalated last Saturday, they experienced the bloodiest terrorist attack in a long time. Girls were the studied target of the terrorist attack according to Dagens Nyheter. According to them, the violence is considered a foretaste of what awaits in the future.
- The target of the killers was undoubtedly the girls who committed the crime to try to get an education according to a leader in Dagens nyheter.
Terrorism against schoolgirls is an effective way of preventing women from getting an education, which, in combination with the pandemic, means that many girls never return to school. according to Sydsvenskan. They believe that it is a failure that the trend points to fewer and fewer children returning to school after the end of the pandemic.
Lack of cooperation at European level
The measures previously taken in Europe to strengthen women's rights now also seem to be failing. The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence is now facing increasing opposition and 21 top European politicians believes that they are appalled by the attacks on women's rights.
Although The European Commission has been criticized and it has been argued that EU leaders must be held accountable. This after a series of failures that critics believe indicates a lack of leadership and confusion about what the Union's mission actually is. Citizens must be able to trust that the EU can sift through its tasks and organize itself accordingly, says Karin Svanborg-Sjövall in Dagens nyheter.
A selection of the last week's editorial and debate articles on global development and Sweden's role in the world:
The Israel-Palestine conflict
The pattern in the Middle East only leads to despair
Principal, Sydsvenskan
Israel must stop occupying Palestine
Anders Lindberg, Aftonbladet
The escalating conflict in Israel
Leader, Svenska dagbladet
"All Swedish parties must take responsibility for ending Israel's occupation of Palestine"
Evin Incir, Member of the European Parliament (S), Anna Sundström, Secretary General of the Olof Palme International Center and Tajma Sisic, International Leader, SSU, The World
Afghanistan
The world's schoolgirls are threatened. From all directions.
Principal, Sydsvenskan
Leader: The bombings in Kabul force the Western world to look for alternatives
Leader, Dagens nyheter
European cooperation
21 European top politicians: We are appalled by the attacks on women's rights
Various European politicians, ETC News Magazine
Karin Svanborg-Sjövall: If we are to give EU leaders more power, we must also be able to hold them accountable
Karin Svanborg-Sjövall, Dagens nyheter
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