The fighting in Gaza came to an end on Friday, just over two years of the original Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 started it. Gazans had their fingers crossed, for this was not the first time they had seen a ceasefire. A ceasefire had been reached in January, which had led to eight rounds of prisoner-hostage exchanges, but broke down in March. This time around, the Trump 20-point peace plan, which formed the basis of the ceasefire, includes the provision for a swift prisoner-hostage exchange, to be accomplished in 72 hours. Also, Israeli forces will leave positions. The holding of the ceasefire is the main imponderable, and essential to any progress on the peace plan, which has settled many of the issues which were to be negotiated last time, such as the reconstruction of Gaza. Quite apart from any other issue, the Transitional Council plan, where the committee of Palestinian technocrats will run the Gaza Strip under the supervision of former British PM Tony Blair, has run into trouble, with objections coming not just from Hamas but other Palestinians.
In an indirect manner, that reflects the problem with this ceasefire. Mr Blair’s neutrality is suspect, because as PM he was pro-Israeli. Going by that standard, no acceptable figure can be found, because anyone acceptable to the Palestinians would not be acceptable for the Israelis. Even now, the basic problem has been sidestepped. Palestinians are determined not to accept Israel, because it deprives them of a homeland of their own. Israelis remain committed to the Zionist project because they do not see any alternative to building their homeland on top of another people’s. Western governments remain committed to supporting Israel, but their peoples have been obliged by the present episode to realize that Israel is an artificial entity, artificially supported.
Perhaps the most immediate problem, now that the firing has stopped and the Israeli military has begun withdrawing, is feeding the Gazans. Apart from massacres by guns and bombs, the Israeli blockade seemed designed to starve the Gazan population, and the number of deaths by starvation was escalating. The UN coordinator of Emergency Relief has said there is a plan to provide relief. That must be prioritized. The ceasefire is the result of pressure on Israel by erstwhile supporters, in turn pressurized by populations horrified by what Israel was doing with the support of the West.
