The cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel is, first of all, a welcome relief to the Palestinians in Gaza who are suffering from the brutal and brutal killings. For 15 months, they have endured daily bombings, killings, threats, imprisonment, hunger, disease, and other hardships that most people cannot even imagine.
The agreement will not go into effect until Sunday, January 19, 2025, not coincidentally one day before Donald Trump's inauguration as President of the United States. Although some say that the success of the agreement is the unique ability of the Trump administration to pressure Israel, it is important to emphasize that Trump is a master of political theater and undoubtedly wanted Israel to agree to an end to the war shortly before it was set up to use it. to raise his political capital. In other words, Trump did not force Netanyahu to accept the deal because he really wanted peace and stability, or because he was really committed to the three parts of the deal. On the contrary, he may have resorted to politics only to raise his profile and advance the goals of his administration.
We do not know what was said and agreed behind closed doors between the Trump team and Israeli officials, but what we can be sure of is that the Trump administration is not interested in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, and is not opposed to Israel's plans to occupy the territories West Bank officials. In fact, some reports indicate that the Trump administration may have promised Netanyahu US support to enter some areas of the West Bank to receive his acceptance of the ceasefire agreement, which Israel will not comply with even in the previous phase 1. events, if it really happens, Trump gets what he wants, which is a political victory, and Netanyahu gets what he wants, which is the continued stability of Palestine.
The main reason to be pessimistic about the agreement is that the agreement does not guarantee phases 2 and 3, when the Israeli army will withdraw from the Strip, the Palestinian refugees will be allowed to return to all areas of the Strip, and rebuild Gaza. A bird would be made.
It is important to emphasize that after more than 15 months of massacres, Gaza has become a wasteland. Large parts of the Strip are uninhabited. People can't just go back to the areas that have collapsed, the houses that don't have running water, well-functioning toilets, or access to electricity and fuel; there are no schools, universities, hospitals, or clinics to use, transport businesses, etc. The economic system has collapsed, and people are completely dependent on foreign aid to survive. Diseases are widespread and many silent killers such as toxins from Israeli bombs are circulating in the air, soil, and water of Gaza. Families have been completely destroyed, some separated by Israel's indiscriminate attacks, and many children orphaned. Many people are weak and unable to support their families. How “normal” life will be possible for Palestinians after all this destruction is unclear.
Questions about the sovereignty of the Strip also remain unclear, and certainly nothing in the agreement solves the main problem or can lead to a long-term solution. The question of the long-term solution is very important. This agreement, in the best case scenario, would end this specific project, but it says nothing about the problem: the genocide of Israelis in Palestine.
The genocide of the Palestinians, what the Palestinians call the ongoing Nakba, does not mean one or two acts of genocide like the 1948 Nakba or the massacre in Gaza, but rather the colonialist movement that seeks to end Palestinian sovereignty, to end the Palestinian right of return to their lands, expel the Palestinians from most of their lands, and assume Israeli-Jewish rule from river to sea. This type of genocide works through various methods of elimination and expulsion.
Carnage as the world witnessed and continues to witness in Gaza, which includes mass killings, mass displacement, and mass destruction that makes the world uninhabitable, is obviously one of those tools, but it is not the only one. There is also an increase in migration and deportation; restricting economic development and establishing economic dependence; erasure of Palestinian history and culture; the partition of the Palestinian people; Deny the rights, freedom and dignity of those who are forced to leave; obstructing the politics of the Palestinian Authority, and so on.
So, the real question becomes: Can a ceasefire, even if it goes through all three stages, kill people? The answer is no because none of Israel's other weapons of mass destruction have been addressed by a ceasefire.
This systematic killing must always be named, exposed, and condemned. As long as the colonial project of Israel is still hidden or minimized in public discussions, the great crisis will continue, and we will return to this time of fear and unspeakable pain, thinking that we also find great relief through this. an armistice agreement. Without serious and sustained pressure on Israel, without the economic and political isolation of Israel and countries and organizations around the world until Israel's colonialism is abolished, we will find ourselves caught in a perpetual trap of genocide, the cook will finally be unleashed in a wider war of total destruction. For the people of the world, this is not a time for celebration or self-congratulation but it is a time to take political and economic action against Israel to stop killing Palestinians in various ways.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera's influence.