The Middle East stands at a crossroads between endless war and comprehensive peace. A framework for peace does exist. Will the U.S. finally seize it?
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi addressing the U.N. Security Council in September 2024. (UN Photo/Manuel Elías)
By Jeffrey D. Sachs and Sybil Fares
Common Dreams
History occasionally presents moments when the truth about a conflict is stated plainly enough that it becomes impossible to ignore.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s Feb. 7 address in Doha, Qatar (transcript here) should prove to be such a moment. His important and constructive remarks responded to the U.S. call for comprehensive negotiations, and he laid out a sound proposal for peace across the Middle East.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for comprehensive negotiations: “If the Iranians want to meet, we’re ready.”
He proposed for talks to include the nuclear issue, Iran’s military capabilities, and its support for proxy groups around the region. On its surface, this sounds like a serious and constructive proposal. The Middle East’s security crises are interconnected, and diplomacy that isolates nuclear issues from broader regional dynamics is unlikely to endure.
On Feb. 7, Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi’s responded to the United States’ proposal for a comprehensive peace. In his speech at the Al Jazeera Forum, the foreign minister addressed the root cause of regional instability — “Palestine… is the defining question of justice in West Asia and beyond” — and he proposed a path forward.
The foreign minister’s statement is correct. The failure to resolve the issue of Palestinian statehood has indeed fueled every major regional conflict since 1948. The Arab-Israeli wars, the rise of anti-Israel militancy, the regional polarization, and the repeated cycles of violence, all derive from the failure to create a State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel.
Gaza represents the most devastating chapter in this conflict, where Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine was followed by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and then by Israel’s genocide against the people of Gaza.
In his speech, Araghchi condemned Israel’s expansionist project “pursued under the banner of security.” He warned of the annexation of the West Bank, which Israeli government officials, as National Security Minister Ben Gvir, continually call for, and for which the Knesset has already passed a motion.
Araghchi also highlighted another fundamental dimension of Israeli strategy which is the pursuit of permanent military supremacy across the region. He said that Israel’s expansionist project requires that “neighboring countries be weakened — militarily, technologically, economically, and socially — so that the Israeli regime permanently enjoys the upper hand.” This is indeed the Clean Break doctrine of Prime Minister Netanyahu, dating back 30 years.
Israeli convoy advancing into Syria, December 2024. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
It has been avidly supported by the U.S. through 100 billion dollars in military assistance to Israel since 2000, diplomatic cover at the U.N. via repeated vetoes, and the consistent U.S. rejection of accountability measures for Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law.
Israel’s impunity has destabilized the region, fueling arms races, proxy wars, and cycles of revenge. It has also corroded what remains of the international legal order. The abuse of international law by the U.S. and Israel with much of Europe remaining silent, has gravely weakened the U.N. Charter, leaving the U.N. close to collapse.
In the concluding remarks of his speech, he offered the U.S. a political solution and path forward.
“The path to stability is clear: justice for Palestine, accountability for crimes, an end to occupation and apartheid, and a regional order built on sovereignty, equality, and cooperation. If the world wants peace, it must stop rewarding aggression. If the world wants stability, it must stop enabling expansionism.”
This is a valid and constructive response to Rubio’s call for comprehensive diplomacy.
This framework could address all the interlocking dimensions of the region’s conflict. The end of Israel’s expansion and occupation of Palestine, and Israel’s return to the borders of June 4, 1967, would bring an end to outside funding and arming of proxy groups in the region.
The creation of a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel would enhance Israel’s security as well as that of its neighbors. A renewed nuclear agreement with Iran, strictly limiting Iran to peaceful nuclear activities and paired with the lifting of U.S. and E.U. sanctions, would add a crucial pillar of regional stability.
Iran already agreed to such a nuclear framework a decade ago, in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that was adopted by the U.N. Security Council in Resolution 2231. It was the U.S. during Trump’s first term, not Iran, that withdrew from the agreement.
Flooded tents of displaced Palestinians due to heavy rain in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, January 2025. (Ashraf Amra/UNRWA/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0 igo)
A comprehensive peace reflects the foundation of modern collective security doctrine, including the United Nations Charter itself. Durable peace requires mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and equal security guarantees for all states.
Regional security is the shared responsibility of all states in the region, and each of them faces a historic obligation. This comprehensive peace proposal is not new, it has been advocated for decades by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (57 Muslim?majority countries) and the League of Arab States (22 Arab States).
Ever since the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, all of these countries have endorsed, on a yearly basis, the framework of land-for-peace. All major Arab and Islamic states, allies of the U.S., have played a crucial role in facilitating the latest round of U.S.-Iranian negotiations in Oman. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has clearly reminded the U.S. that it will normalize relations with Israel only on the condition of the establishment of a Palestinian State.
The United States faces a moment of truth. Does it really want peace, or does it want to follow Israel’s extremism? For decades, the US has blindly followed Israeli misguided objectives. Domestic political pressures, powerful lobbying networks, strategic miscalculations, and perhaps a bit of blackmail lurking in the Epstein files (who knows?) have combined to subordinate American diplomacy to Israel’s regional ambitions.
The U.S. subservience to Israel does not serve American interests. It has drawn the United States into repeated regional wars, undermined global trust in American foreign policy, and weakened the international legal order that Washington itself helped to construct after 1945.
A comprehensive peace offers the U.S. a rare opportunity to correct course. By negotiating a comprehensive regional peace grounded in international law, the United States could reclaim genuine diplomacy and help to establish a stable regional security architecture that benefits all parties, including Israel and Palestine.
The Middle East stands at a crossroads between endless war and comprehensive peace. The framework for peace exists. It requires first and foremost Palestinian statehood, security guarantees for Israel and the rest of the region, a peaceful nuclear deal restoring the basic agreement adopted by the U.N. a decade ago, lifting of economic sanctions, the unbiased enforcement of international law, and a diplomatic architecture that replaces military force with security cooperation. The world should rally behind a comprehensive framework and take this historic opportunity to achieve regional peace.
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a university professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also president of the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and a commissioner of the U.N. Broadband Commission for Development.
Sybil Fares is a specialist and adviser in Middle East policy and sustainable development at SDSN.
This article is from Common Dreams
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Usury, known as riba in Islamic thought, is considered a major sin and is strictly prohibited in Islam. It is viewed as exploitative and unjust, as it guarantees profit for the lender while imposing unfair burdens on the borrower, contradicting the principles of social and economic justice in Islamic finance.
Love of money – root of all evil … The scripture often referenced is 1 Timothy 6:10, which states, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” This verse warns that craving money can lead people away from their faith and cause them many sorrows.
The previous statements should come as sufficient for those who are still curious enough to wish for fully understanding the true, main, relevant source of contention regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran…
The hegemonic sadistic paranoid Jewish supremacists demand essentially two things that they fully know torpedo any chance of peace between the Washington-Zionist-militarist imperialists and Tehran: 1.) That Iran gives up its ballistic missiles that have the range to hit Tel Aviv, and 2.) That Iran foregoes all uranium enrichment even for peaceful domestic energy purposes.
Of course, there’s absolutely no way Tehran can agree to these outrageous demands. Therefore, the chances that Netanyahu and his pro-Israel mouthpieces in the U.S. media successfully browbeat the Trump regime into an astonishingly reckless and dangerous attack on Iran are not small.
I feel sorry for all the working class young American men manning those iron bathtubs throughout southwest Asia. Also, the millions of Iranians in harm’s way for no other reason than that they demand sovereignty, deserve our deep thoughts and concern.
Utter madness emanates from the Zionist dominated meeting rooms in Washington.
Jeffery, your thinking and logic are correct…but your naivety is stunning.
“The United States faces a moment of truth. Does it really want peace, or does it want to follow Israel’s extremism?” How can such a bright person as yourself ask such a foolish question? Did you ever happen see the annual cartoon of Lucy inviting Charlie Brown to have another swipe at the football?
“The world should rally behind a comprehensive framework and take this historic opportunity to achieve regional peace”.
Jeffery, you are short sighted. The problem is the Zionist are making a push for COMPLETE WORLD DOMINATION…not “regional”. We all need to understand that (from their perspective) the Zionists must either rule the world or face perpetual opposition…or even possible extermination from another Hitler. That’s because their selfish racist behavior can never coexist peacefully with others. That is the game as they see it…those are the stakes. There will never be peace…unless it is a Zionist dictated peace.
The globe has largely been infected by the, so far secret, aspirations of the Zionist. America has become subservient to their will largely aided by many mis-informed Christians who have come to believe it is in their interest to support the resurgence of Israel. These lost souls have been indoctrinated to think that the same tribe that ordered the execution their Christ…are now on the verge of facilitating His second coming! How insane is that? Why on earth, would Christ come back to this Zionist inspired mess? It’s a good bet…if Jesus were to show up…it would’t even take 4 days for his dismissal.
Instead of a “comprehensive peace offer” Israel should be presented with “an offer they can’t refuse” by the all the nuclear armed nations of the planet. This should be accompanied by a worldwide shunning and boycott of all Zionists everywhere. A special world Tribunal needs to be assembled to address one problem….Zionism. Zionist need to be called front and center to answer and pay for their crimes…and to disassemble their racist war mongering state. We either to this together, or separately, we will all find ourselves kissing their ring.
The root of the problem isn’t that a two-state solution hasn’t been achieved. The root of the problem is that Israel is an ethnic supremacist European colonial state. Zionism and European expansionism must be dismantled. J Sachs support of a “two state solution,” places him right in the middle of the compatible left, willing to speak the language of anti-imperialism except where it matters most. Only a one state solution stands against Western colonialism. Sachs is still peddling the idea that America’s policies in the West Asia are being controlled by Israel. The U.S. and its long history to dominate the entire world, ‘full spectrum dominance,’ is the root of the problem. The creation of Israel, by the British and America empires, is a branch of U.S. domination. Israel has destabilised the entire region and has allowed the U.S. led ‘West’ to impose comprador ruling classes in all the Arab states. The existence of Israel is the U.S. policy that is the root of the violence. Sachs, and all who claim to be anti-imperialists must see the history of the Western empire, and as long as the Zionist state exists, there can never be a solution. This article entirely misses the point and therefore it is compatible with liberal imperialism and never ending war for the accumulation of Western capital.
I could not agree more with your comment.
“…For decades, the US has blindly followed Israeli misguided objectives…” or so it seems, but the Israelis will be the first to die when the next war breaks out, while US residents will suffer only economic costs. When the next attack on Iran comes, where would you rather be? Russia, China, the US or Tel Aviv?
The UK and US imperialist interests in Persia/Iran pre-date the creation of the state of Israel. When Israel was a new state, Mossadegh was not overthrown for Israel. Gosh, Iran occupies a key geo-strategic location (Persian Gulf, China’s BRI, North South Corridor etc.) as well as having some of the largest reserves of petroleum as well as natural gas.
Even if Israel did not exist, the imperialists would want to control Iran as they have for a couple of centuries or more. Iran/China/Russia are the only major countries able to resist the empire…
The problem with Jeffrey Sachs proposal is that it makes perfect sense for everyone. That is everyone except the Zionist cabal that is predominate in the Israeli government and general public, and controls the United States government through bribery and blackmail.
We are unfortunately well past the point in time where Israel could be viewed as negotiating in good faith regarding the welfare of Palestinians.
In fact, that time ended with the first Nakba of Palestinians in 1948 and it began even before the official founding of Israel (hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba). The 15th of May is observed as Nakba Day by Palestinians and this year it will mark 78 years of ethnic cleansing and genocidal slaughter. Good luck with the idea that Israel will change its policy now.
Israel has never dealt in good faith with Palestinians and it seems unlikely that they ever will, given that 82%of Israeli Jews currently support the expulsion of all Palestinians from Israel and 56% support the expulsion of all other Arabs even though they are Israeli citizens. That is based on a 2025 poll by Haaretz, a left-leaning Israeli newspaper which is Israel’s newspaper of record (hxxps://www.palestinechronicle.com/poll-82-of-israelis-back-gaza-expulsion-nearly-half-support-biblical-massacres/).
Any negotiations between Israel and Iran are simply Kabuki theater. Israel will never give up trying to destroy Iran and its claims of being threatened by Iran are pure psychological projection.
You can’t negotiate with fascists. You must defeat them. The two state solution was never a serious policy position. It was used to allow Israel to continue to annex more and more Palestinian land. Let us not be naive. We are under the control of bat shit crazy power trippers who view us as their property to do with as they wish. Humanity had best collectively stand its ground and send these monsters packing. Give all of Palestine back to its indigenous population. Free Palestine!
“bat shit crazy power trippers” I agree, and it is not ad hominem, y0u are quite accurate in using that language. The Orange Emperor shows clear signs of mental illness. He’s like Joe Biden on amphetamines, most of what he says is baseless gibberish.
Like in Roman times, the emperor has lost his marbles, yet few are brave enough to point it out.
Thank you JonnyJames. “Joe Biden on amphetamines.” LOL
Iran is reasonable and rational. The problem is that the other side is insane.
Who created the situation in the first place?
Allow these countries to be on their own!
U.S. policy-makers do not want peace. They want world domination by the U.S.: military, political, economic, and ideological.
Same for Israel — its leaders and 82 percent of its population — global military, political, economic, and ideological domination. Hand in hand presumably with U.S. imperial fanatics.