As violence continues to rage in the Middle East, a quick fix solution is still light years away – primarily due to the inbuilt and mutual hatred between Palestinians and Israelis, President Emeritus Guido de Marco said yesterday.

Prof. de Marco was speaking at a seminar organised by the Chevening Alumni Association that discussed the Middle East crisis and possible solutions to the conflict.

In a firm and determined mood, the President Emeritus fondly recalled his first historic visit to the Palestinian Territories where he met the then Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, at the start of a friendship that endured until the latter’s death in 2004.

Prof. de Marco also gave a historical overview of the situation in Palestine, beginning with the Balfour Declaration in 1915, where the existence of an Israeli state was first acknowledged as a possibility. He said that, initially, relations between Palestinian Arabs and the incoming Jews were cordial, but the situation began worsening when a significant number of Jewish settlers began arriving in “the land of milk and honey”.

The President Emeritus then emotionally recalled the horrendous massacre of the Jews – six million of them – who perished in the indescribable horrors of the Holocaust. He said that the post-war situation developed into the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, which was, in a sense, the repayment of a debt by the nations who felt guilt and remorse at having allowed the slaughter of the sons and daughters of Israel to occur.

However, a Palestinian state was also part of the United Nations resolution that created Israel, but this has never become a reality, he said. In the view of many Israelis, the West Bank and Gaza remain their land, as they are the Sinai and Cannan of the Old Testament, so the question of relations remains one of territorial annexation.

In defiance of several UN resolutions, said Prof. de Marco, Israel continues to pursue settlement in the West Bank, having reduced Palestinians to the status of refugees in their own country. He said that this situation had evolved through the Oslo Peace Accords, the Barcelona Process and the unfortunate death of Yitzhak Rabin, which brought the whole process to a halt.

The President Emeritus acknowledged the bold decision taken by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from Gaza, but added that huge problems still remain for the Palestinians to actively assert themselves and govern their territory with dignity.