Deal or No Deal
a ceasefire is only the beginning
Upon hearing yesterday’s news of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, I admit I was relieved. Yet, something within me stopped me short of celebrating. I wasn’t ready to celebrate because I knew that the announcement of a deal did not mean that a ceasefire was a sure thing. There were still several steps left in the process of finalizing the deal, including taking it before the Israeli parliament for approval. That, in and of itself, seemed like a reason to remain cautious.
Indeed, as of today, Israel has already had to postpone the approval of the deal because they claim that Hamas has made additional demands that threaten to sabotage it. Hamas denies this, and as long as Israel remains non-specific about what the supposed additional demands are, there’s no way to know if they are telling the truth or if this is yet another Netanyahu stall tactic.
Then there’s the fact that even after the deal was reached on Wednesday, Israel still managed to kill nearly 100 Palestinians in Gaza overnight into Thursday morning. The ceasefire is not scheduled to take effect until Sunday, but to kill nearly 100 people in an airstrike just days before a ceasefire is supposed to go into effect indicates to me that Israel’s bloodlust has not slackened. Can a ceasefire hold, even if it is initiated?
Finally, even if the ceasefire does go into effect, I worry that this will only mean that most people, tired of hearing about endless slaughter, will use it as an excuse to turn their attention away from Palestine. Additionally, even if the ceasefire is extended beyond the initial six-week period, which seems unlikely, an end to the active mass killing does not guarantee survival for the people of Gaza.
According to the BBC, the UN estimates the damaged buildings include more than 90% of the housing units in Gaza, with 160,000 destroyed and a further 276,000 severely or partially damaged. Where will people live?
Before the war, nearly two thirds of Gazans lived in poverty, but they still had schools, mosques, churches, farms, and hospitals. They had community and culture. People were poor, but they had a certain quality of life. Now, the health care system is decimated; schools, churches, and mosques are bombed out; and much of the strip’s agricultural land has been reduced to sand and rubble. What kind of community life will there be?
Back in August, the estimated cost to rebuild Gaza was $80 billion, and there’s only been more destruction since then. Who will pay for Gaza to be rebuilt? It’s hard to imagine that Israel would pay to rebuild Palestinian communities, unless they plan to resettle parts of it themselves. It’s equally hard to imagine that the United States would pay, considering how eager we have been to send the very bombs used to destroy the strip. The EU and the UK have their own financial struggles, and the Arab world has done little to assist Palestinians in any meaningful way. How will they rebuild?
The truth is, a ceasefire is only the bare minimum of what needs to happen in order for there to be justice and any kind of lasting peace in the Holy Land. There needs to be an end to the blockade of Gaza that has been in place since 2007. There needs to be an opening up of travel between the Gaza strip and the West Bank. There needs to be an end to apartheid and an end to the occupation and the release of thousands of Palestinian detainees and political prisoners. There needs to be a independent and sovereign Palestinian state. A ceasefire is not the end to the ongoing collective nightmare that is the reality for so many Palestinians. It is only the beginning. This is no time to turn our attention away.
Don’t get me wrong, I am praying feverishly for this ceasefire to go into effect, and for it to hold. Indeed, I’m more hopeful about the possibility of that happening than I have been for many, many months. The people of Gaza need a break from the horrors of an active genocide. Still, I cannot deny that the hope I feel is tenuous at best, and no cause for celebration. Not yet, anyway.