What Ramesses and the Hittites understood 3,000 years ago on a clay tablet, that Europe still cannot implement | Almog Hazaz
An opinion column comparing the Hittite-Egyptian peace treaty from 3,000 years ago, which established principles of returning refugees while protecting them, to Europe's 2026 migration crisis. The author argues that Europe knows how to decide on migration policy but struggles to enforce it, citing a return rate of only 28% in the EU in 2025 and the Ceuta crisis as evidence of Europe's dependence on neighboring countries.
An opinion column by Almog Hazaz in Maariv compares the peace treaty between Ramesses II and Hattusili III, signed about 3,000 years ago, to Europe's migration policy in 2026. The author cites a clay tablet fragment found in the excavations of Hattusa, containing a section of the treaty dealing with people who fled between Egypt and the Hittite Empire. The treaty established a dual principle: an obligation to return fugitives to their state, but alongside that, a prohibition on harming them after return. The author argues that Europe today, despite all the technological and legal tools at its disposal, struggles to implement a similar principle. He cites a European Commission figure, according to which the return rate in the EU stood at only about 28% in 2025, the highest year in a decade. The author refers to the Ceuta crisis in May 2021 and July 2026 as an example of Europe's dependence on cooperation from neighboring countries, and how this dependence turns migration into a political bargaining chip. The conclusion: Europe knows how to decide on migration policy but does not always know how to execute it.