The announcement of a ceasefire settlement in Gaza undoubtedly marks a vital second within the ongoing battle. For these of us who’ve witnessed, skilled, after which watched, mourned, and advocated from afar, this pause in hostilities supplies a possibility to mirror on the previous 15 months, and the heavy value paid for this fleeting calm.
As a Palestinian, receiving this information appears like standing within the eye of a storm, in a second of ghostly calm surrounded by chaos and destruction. For me, a minimum of it marks the tip to the bloodshed, however the reality is, those we misplaced won’t ever return, and these scars won’t ever heal. How would a ceasefire ever change that reality?
Ceasefires are sometimes hailed as victories for diplomacy, however to me, they’re extra like pauses in a continuing nightmare. This newest settlement is a reminder that, for the folks of Gaza, survival typically hinges on the fragility of politics. Kids, moms, and fathers carry the insufferable weight of uncertainty. I discover myself asking: Is that this really a step in the direction of peace, or simply one other chapter in a narrative of delayed justice and prolonged struggling?
The ceasefire’s phrases, reached beneath immense worldwide strain, embrace a halt to air strikes and rocket fireplace, together with provisions to permit humanitarian assist into Gaza. These measures are desperately wanted. However their necessity can also be an accusation of the worldwide neighborhood’s failure to behave sooner to stop the crises that make such measures vital. Assist is significant, however it can’t heal the injuries of oppression, extensive open and bleeding. Momentary peace can’t exchange the best to dwell freely and to dream past survival.
The Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ), the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC), and their arrest warrants, which have been meant to handle crimes dedicated in opposition to our folks, are overshadowed by political inaction. Will the world pursue these mechanisms when the conflict ends, or will justice be buried beneath a mountain of forms and indifference? The failure to implement accountability earlier than, throughout, and after the battle reveals how deeply flawed these establishments are.
Assist is significant, however it can’t heal the injuries of oppression. Momentary peace can’t exchange the best to dwell freely and to dream past survival. This prompts one other essential query: Will Palestinians ever get their rights to have full management over their political and diplomatic path to justice, or will they all the time be eradicated from the political stage and portrayed to slot in the sufferer’s function? Whereas worldwide recognition of our plight is vital, we should chart a path in the direction of independence from unreliable international powers.
For Palestinians, particularly these in Gaza, the siege is its personal sort of conflict. It’s violence with out bombs, however no much less devastating. The blockade, now in its seventeenth yr, has eroded the material of life. It has robbed households of alternatives, denied them entry to fundamental rights, and imposed a every day wrestle that defies the bounds of human endurance. How can we rebuild a life in such situations, figuring out that this ceasefire would possibly crumble as shortly because it got here? How can we dream of a future when the current appears like an eternal state of mourning?
Through the conflict, choices akin to halting the funding of the United Nations Aid and Works Company for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) exacerbated the humanitarian disaster. The lack of the worldwide neighborhood, together with entities as disparate because the UN, the G8, or BRICS, to intervene in time to revive such important lifelines for Palestinians additional highlights its failure to guard civilian life and uphold humanitarian legislation. What occurs when the security nets, already too fragile, are arbitrarily stripped away with out international resistance highly effective sufficient to alleviate the disaster?
The worldwide neighborhood, significantly Western powers, should confront their function in preserving this cycle. Statements of help for ceasefires ring hole when they aren’t accompanied by significant motion, accountability, safety for civilians, and an actual dedication to addressing the foundation causes of this battle. The imbalance of energy, the brutal actuality of occupation, the suffocating blockade – these usually are not peripheral points. They’re the core of the issue.
How can we belief the identical US administration – led for now by Biden and shortly Trump – that pressured for this ceasefire when its actions have constantly undermined peace within the area? Choices by the primary administration of President-elect Donald Trump to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognise the Golan Heights as a part of Israel are stark reminders of an agenda that prioritises energy over justice. Furthermore, the concern stays that this administration will shift its focus to the West Financial institution, transferring the identical insurance policies of violence and displacement there. Such choices present that any pause in violence doesn’t equate to a shift in coverage or priorities.
As I course of this second, I really feel each a flicker of hope and a tide of anger. Hope that this pause would possibly save lives, and anger that it has taken a lot struggling to succeed in even this fragile level. The cameras will flip away quickly, the world’s consideration will shift, however for us, this isn’t an finish. Ceasefires usually are not peace. They’re moments of quiet in an never-ending storm. Till justice is realised, till dignity and equality are greater than distant goals, the cycle will proceed.
This isn’t to decrease the importance of the ceasefire for these whose lives dangle within the stability day-after-day. For a lot of, it means the distinction between life and loss of life. However as a Palestinian, I can’t ignore the deeper reality: peace is not only the absence of conflict. It’s the presence of justice. It’s the freedom to dwell with out concern, to rebuild with out the understanding of destruction, to dream with out limits. Something much less just isn’t peace. It’s survival. And survival just isn’t sufficient for individuals who deserve a lot extra.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.