1 The Ceasefire

2 The Israeli Perspective

3 The Ceasefire Charade

1 The Ceasefire

After 15 months of a brutal and relentless genocide that took the lives of over 50,000 Palestinians, (some say 100,000 to 150,000)a Gaza ceasefire has finally been reached. The truce deal marks a devastating victory for the Palestinian resistance, achieved at a staggering human cost, and a political loss for Netanyahu and the occupation state.

Sources familiar with the negotiations reveal that the announcement on 14 January stemmed from an Israeli “final attempt” to manipulate withdrawal maps. Tel Aviv sought to insert the term “withdrawal from populated areas,” which implied maintaining its forces in “open areas” near civilian zones. This effort was thwarted by “decisive American pressure.”

Key Details of the Agreement

The withdrawal adheres to pre-7 October 2023 borders, averting Israeli attempts to establish buffer zones and achieve territorial encroachment – a significant victory for the Palestinian resistance. Hamas also secured commitments for reconstruction; including hospital rehabilitation, field medical teams, and unrestricted humanitarian aid.

Throughout the six-week implementation, Hamas will gradually release Israeli prisoners – three to four prisoners per week – an average of 19 in the first five weeks – and the remaining 14 or so at the end of the first phase, retaining 65 individuals as leverage for subsequent phases. The details of those phases will be negotiated later, provided that the Americans uphold their guarantee to prevent the return of war. 

The first troop withdrawal phase, allowing displaced Palestinians to return to the north, from Al-Rashid al-Bahari Street to the west, begins on the seventh day of the ceasefire. By the 22nd day, Israel will fully withdraw, restoring freedom of movement for all Palestinians.

Netanyahu’s Bitter Pill 

Over 15 months of total war, Netanyahu has faced numerous pressures to reach this agreement. In the interim, the Israeli narrative of “absolute victory” has unraveled. Widely-touted promised gains, such as retaining the strategic Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors, have been abandoned, leaving Netanyahu and his extremist governing coalition grappling with a public relations crisis. The liberation of Palestinian prisoners and the reversal of territorial ambitions evoke memories of the 2010 deal that freed 1,027 Palestinians for Gilad Shalit – a painful reminder for Israelis.

Israeli media’s reactions reflect this bitterness. “The pressure Trump is exerting right now is not the kind that Israel expected from him,”  Meanwhile, a journalist ally of extremist Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir concedes that “Trump increased the pressure on Hamas to the point that Israel broke.”

To compensate, there are reports of a deal “offering Netanyahu political cover for this domestic defeat”. It includes lifting sanctions on extremist settlers, shielding Israeli leaders from international legal action, and permitting major West Bank settlement expansions. Yet, compared to Tel Aviv’s far-reaching initial ambitions, such as annexing the West Bank or attacking Iran, these concessions appear diluted.

 According to Hamas sources, the resistance negotiated the ceasefire on Sinwar’s stringent terms, and in death, he achieved his goals. This will further glorify the man whose fight to the bitter end was captured in emotive images during his direct conflict with the occupation forces. 

His soldiers, unaware of his identity until after his martyrdom, viewed him as a symbol of resistance. Today, Israel faces the prospect of releasing hundreds of prisoners with life sentences and will be bitterly weighing the likelihood of future ‘Sinwars’ among them. For Israel, prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment are seen as having “blood on their hands,” signifying their perceived threat and resilience as formidable Palestinian figures.

A Fragile Victory

Despite unparalleled suffering – over 200,000 mass displacements, and Gaza’s near-total devastation – Palestinians are finding solace in halting the war and securing key concessions. The resistance’s steadfastness and Qatar’s deft diplomacy reshaped an agreement that, while imperfect, forestalls further bloodshed and displaces Israeli ambitions of long-term occupation. 

However, the cessation remains precarious, hinging only on American guarantees and mutual adherence to terms. For Gaza’s people, scarred by war yet defiant, the deal symbolizes not just survival but a step toward reclaiming their dignity amid a continuing struggle. When viewed alongside the key components of this agreement and juxtaposed with Israel’s objectives – the displacement of Gazans, the exile of resistance leaders, and the forcible retention of prisoners – the outcome marks a notable “achievement.”

Yet, this outcome would not have been possible without the unwavering determination of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. Their recent intensifying operations, especially on the front lines near Beit Hanoun, which exacted heavy death tolls on Israeli forces, played a crucial role in addition to the regional fronts opened by Hamas’s allies in the Axis of Resistance. Nevertheless, these efforts alone did not directly prompt the war’s end. Gazans have endured horrors they liken to “doomsday scenes.” The toll includes 17,000 orphans and countless families erased from the civil registry. 

The people of Gaza are choosing to celebrate the agreement and its implications. Their joy and relief are visible not only in the diaspora and the West Bank but also in the streets of Gaza and among the makeshift tents they now call home, even before the agreement’s official declaration.

The conflict in the Middle East has destroyed countless lives and the horrific scenes since 7 October 2023 from Gaza and Israel have haunted millions around the world.

Tens of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians are heading to their homes, walking through devastated swaths of Gaza, after the between Israel and Hamas took effect following more than 15 months of war. Israel on Sunday said a truce with Hamas began in Gaza at 11:15am, nearly three hours after initially scheduled, following a last-minute delay on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited ceasefire agreement halts the Israel-Hamas war, but many will find there is nothing left and no way to rebuild.

Israeli bombardment and ground operations have transformed entire neighborhoods in several cities into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching away in all directions. Major roads have been plowed up. Critical water and electricity infrastructure is in ruins. Most hospitals no longer function. And it’s unclear when — or even if — much will be rebuilt. The agreement for a phased ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas-led militants does not say who will govern Gaza after the war, or whether Israel and Egypt will lift a blockade limiting the movement of people and goods that they imposed when Hamas seized power in 2007.

Two-thirds of all structures destroyed. The full extent of the damage will only be known when the fighting ends and inspectors have full access to the territory. The most heavily destroyed part of Gaza, in the north, has been sealed off and largely depopulated by Israeli forces in an operation that began in early October. Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated last month that 69% of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including over 245,000 homes. Mountains of rubble to be moved. Before anything can be rebuilt, the rubble must be removed — a staggering task in itself. The U.N. estimates that the war has littered Gaza with over 50 million tons of rubble — roughly 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. With over 100 trucks working full time, it would take over 15 years to clear the rubble away, and there is little open space in the narrow coastal territory. Carting the debris away will also be complicated by the fact that it contains huge amounts of unexploded ordnance and other harmful materials, as well as human remains. Gaza’s Health Ministry says thousands of people killed in airstrikes are still buried under the rubble. The rubble clearance and eventual rebuilding of homes will require billions of dollars and the ability to bring construction materials and heavy equipment into the territory — neither of which is assured.

In the lead-up to the on Wednesday, and in the hours following, Israel carried out massacres and campaigns of further destruction across the Gaza Strip. “The more we hear about a potential ceasefire agreement, the higher the pace of the attacks, the more families are being targeted and killed.” Approximately 60 Palestinians were killed in a strike   just hours before the deal was reached. Gaza’s civil defense said that the Israeli military intensified its bombardment of Gaza City after the ceasefire announcement. In the early hours of Thursday, 30 Palestinians, including children, were killed in Gaza City a few hours after the ceasefire deal was announced. “The Israeli occupation army extinguished this joy. … Israel doesn’t want the children, women and families who have endured this war during this past period to live in peace, safety and happiness.”

The attacks continued. The Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza on Thursday that since the ceasefire deal was announced, 72 people were killed. Israel also bombed a school shelter in Gaza City and a home in al-Bureij refugee camp. On Monday 13 January, a series of Israeli killed at least 33 Palestinians across Gaza, including seven separate attacks on Palestinians in Gaza City. While no casualties were reported, 67 families lost all their belongings, as their tents were destroyed in the fire. In total, more than 200 Palestinians were murdered between the announcement of the cease fire and the time the cease fire went into effect. The Gaza government media office on 12 January that 100 days have passed since Israel began its targeted campaign of destruction and slaughter in the north, leaving approximately 5,000 Palestinians dead or missing, 9,500 wounded and 2,600 abducted.

The announcement was met with rousing cheers throughout northern Gaza where Hamas fighters reportedly came out of their tunnels to openly celebrate in the streets—make no mistake, this is being viewed as a monumental victory by the resistance: Hamas declared the ceasefire with Israel a victory. In Israel itself, they are already calling the deal “bad” and claiming that it was imposed by the United States.

‘Al-Aqsa Flood delivered the final nail in the coffin of the Israeli occupation’: Abu Obeida. The spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, delivered a speech from the Gaza Strip on 19 January, reflecting on the significant changes brought about by  on 7 October 2023 and the 15-month war against the Israeli forces. The Qassam spokesman said that the ceasefire deal for Gaza ‘could have been made a year ago’ if the Israeli government had not systematically sabotaged talks. “Four hundred and seventy-one days have passed since the historic Battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood, which undoubtedly drove the final nail into the coffin of the occupation that is now on its way to vanishing,” Obeida said in a video address broadcast hours after a fragile ceasefire took effect across the enclave. Obeida stressed that Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza have, for the past year and three months, “sent a message to the world that the occupation is a great lie, despite the unequal confrontation in terms of military capabilities and combat ethics.” He also highlighted that the ceasefire deal “could have been made a year ago if it aligned with Netanyahu’s ambitions.” “The Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood began from the outskirts of Gaza, but it has changed the face of the region and introduced new equations in the conflict with the occupying entity … We fought alongside all the resistance factions as a united front throughout Gaza, delivering devastating blows to the enemy,” Obeida highlighted.

The resistance official also spoke about the “unprecedented sacrifices” made by the people of Gaza, who have been the target of what has been described as the world’s first-ever live-streamed genocide. “We feel the great pain that our people endure, which comes as the price for liberating the land, the people, and the holy sites,” the spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said, adding that “the immense sacrifices and the blood shed by our people will not be in vain.”

Israel says it will prevent ‘public displays of joy’ by families when Palestinians are released as part of Gaza ceasefire

 The family of Zina Barber, a 24-year-old Palestinian woman held in a jail for more than a year, were preparing for her to be released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal when a group of Israeli policemen came to their door late on Saturday. “They raided our house, and seized flags and symbols associated with Palestine,” said her mother, Amal. The Israel Prison Service said on Friday that it would take measures to prevent any “public displays of joy” by families of Palestinian prisoners released in the deal. Relatives of Palestinian prisoners from East Jerusalem due to be released in exchange for three Israeli hostages held by Hamas in  said that Israeli military personnel had explicitly warned them against speaking to the media. The homes of at least four prisoners in East Jerusalem were reportedly raided by Israeli security forces. “Sorry, but we can’t talk right now, they raided our house too,” said a family member of another Palestinian prisoner who prefers not to be identified for fear of repercussions by the Israeli police.

By diminishing the visibility of celebrations among the families of prisoners, Israel appears to be aiming to ensure that the ceasefire does not get interpreted as a victory for Hamas and a defeat for Bibi. But the Israeli warning against the celebrations did not work in the West Bank, where hundreds of people took the streets of Ramallah, Qalandia and Nablus to celebrate the prisoners’ return. Mothers, fathers, siblings and friends waited in the cold to embrace their loved ones as part of the agreement described by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society as “the largest collective rescue operation of male and female prisoners since 1985, and the most qualitative and quantitative”. In Ramallah, several of those in the crowd waved Hamas flags. In the refugee camp of Qalandia, in the West Bank, Osama Shadeh and his family prepared sweets, streamers, and decorated their car with a Palestinian flag and pictures of his daughter Aseel, 17, who was arrested last year and due to be included in Sunday’s release. “It’s hard to describe the emotion we’re feeling at this moment,” he said. “My daughter was arrested on 7 November when she was protesting against the killing of Palestinian children in Gaza. She was waving a Palestinian flag. Israeli soldiers shot her in the foot and handcuffed her. They accused her of trying to stab the soldiers. The fact that she is being released now means that Israel knew that my daughter had done nothing wrong. Yet they kept a minor in jail for over a year.”

 The Israel Prison Service said that two jails, one near Jerusalem and another near the southern city of Ashkelon, had begun preparations for the releases by gathering prisoners to be freed, and that they will first be taken to Ofer prison near Ramallah, where relatives have gathered in the cold, awaiting for their loved ones. Cars carrying friends and relatives of the prisoners waved Palestinian flags, and a group of boys lit a bonfire against the cold, as the first fireworks lit up the sky at sunset. “I’m very happy,” said Khawlaha Mahfouz, 53, whose daughter Ayat, 33, from Hebron, was arrested in June 2024 for an attempted stabbing attack. “At the same time, my heart is sad and I don’t feel ready to celebrate with all that is happening in Gaza.”  Palestinians have long alleged that imprisonment is a key element of Israel’s 57-year-old occupation: various estimates suggest that up to 40% of Palestinian men have been arrested at least once in their lives.

2 The Israeli perspective

How ‘Israel’ was forced to submit to Gaza

If it wasn’t for the unbelievable steadfastness of Gaza’s people, the relentlessness of its armed resistance, combined with the sustained efforts of the support fronts in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq, victory would not have been possible. Assuming that the Gaza ceasefire holds, the Israelis have been dealt a defeat from which they may never fully recover. This analysis does not come without the acknowledgment of the historic crime committed against the people of the Gaza Strip, but from a realistic look at what impact an Israeli surrender has had.

The Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, including the Qassam Brigades of Hamas, were never powerful enough to decisively defeat the Israeli military and capture new territory in occupied Palestine, nor were they under any illusions about their abilities either. Although no one could have imagined the sheer scale of the human suffering and carnage that the Zionist regime would inflict, it was clear that the Palestinian Resistance prepared itself for a long war of attrition. It can be said that the mere fact that – amidst widespread starvation, the mass murder of between 47,000 to 300,000 [as per the highest estimates] people, and the destruction of over 80% of Gaza’s infrastructure – the Palestinian armed groups would even continue to exist as formidable fighting forces, is nothing short of a miracle. Not only were the Resistance factions able to regroup, maintain their ability to fire long-range rockets into the likes of “Tel Aviv” and occupied Jerusalem but Hamas was able to conclude a favorable ceasefire/prisoner exchange.

The Zionist regime’s two key goals were to completely “destroy” Hamas and to return their captives by force, which Netanyahu repeatedly asserted he was going to achieve. Even on January 18, the day before the implementation of the ceasefire deal, the Israeli premier still repeated these goals and vowed to achieve them. As it turned out, the Palestinian armed groups never had to achieve military parity or superiority over the Israelis; they only needed to continue to possess the capability to resist them. While the Palestinian Resistance managed to inflict casualties on the Zionist forces until the very last day before the ceasefire, it was obvious that the regime was hiding many of its soldier deaths and injuries from the Israeli public.

Israel & the US were Forced to Surrender

There is a combination of factors that brought about the ceasefire and prisoner exchange.

The Hamas-led October 7 attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, not only dealt an enormous blow to the Israelis, but also the United States. The key foreign policy goal of the Biden administration was to secure a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime, which would then enable them to launch their India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that aimed to help Washington in its ongoing competition with Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. The October 7 assault also collapsed the image of American power in the Middle East, along with that of the Israelis, making Iran appear as the regional military powerhouse. Under such circumstances, the US permitted its Israeli allies to commit genocide in the Gaza Strip and to work on a project to cripple the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance. It was therefore clear, that eventually, the war was going to expand onto other fronts beyond Gaza.

The United States has attained a series of tactical victories, in addition to what appears to have been a strategic victory in Syria; as per the current outcome. This may have been enough to sufficiently convince its Arab allied nations of its power and relevance in the region, which is of vital importance to American policy makers. The US hopes to scare nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into submission, while also demonstrating that their power can ensure a sense of security. Despite the American-Israeli propaganda, which now presents the Axis of Resistance as “defeated”, the outcome in the Gaza Strip demonstrates the exact opposite. Contrary to the notion of a battered and beleaguered Palestinian Resistance, it continued to fight until the ceasefire went into effect.

Immediately thousands of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades fighters and Security Forces were deployed across the besieged territory. Just a day after the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas deployed its police force throughout the Strip to end “chaos and bring order back”.

If it wasn’t for the unbelievable steadfastness of Gaza’s people, the relentlessness of its armed resistance, combined with the sustained efforts of the support fronts in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq, victory would not have been possible. The sacrifices were tremendous, from the people, the fighters and leaders of movements. A complex combination of factors made this ceasefire possible, not all of them positive by any means, yet what is truly the primary reason for the war’s outcome is the spirit of Gaza’s people, who never gave up despite losing all their worldly possessions.

The Dream is Over

This is what was stated in an editorial in the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” entitled: The Palestinians are the best people on earth in defending their homelands. Here is an editorial from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz translated into Arabic. Read what the writer says: During the war on Gaza and the resistance’s rockets being fired at us, our loss every three days exceeds 912 million dollars in aircraft sorties, the price of Patriot missiles, and the supply of vehicles. With fuel in addition to the consumption of ammunition and missiles of all kinds, not to mention the disruption of commercial activity, the fall of the stock market, the cessation of most institutions and construction work, complete paralysis in all areas of agriculture, industry and trade, the death of all types of poultry on farms worth tens of millions of dollars, the disruption of some airports and some train lines, and the price of food. Those fleeing to shelters, not to mention the destruction of homes, shops, cars and factories by Palestinian resistance missiles. We are exposed to a war that we are the ones who started it, kindled its fire, and ignited its fuse, but we are not the ones to manage it, and we are certainly not the ones to end it. As for its end, it is not in our interest, especially since the Arab cities in Israel surprised everyone with this massive revolution against us, after we thought they had lost their Palestinian compass.This is a bad omen for the state whose politicians were certain that their calculations were all wrong, and that their policies needed a horizon beyond what they thought about.

As for the Palestinians, they are truly the owners of the land. Who, other than the owners of the land, would defend it with himself, his property, and his children with such ferocity, pride, and defiance? As a Jew, I challenge the entire State of Israel to have this affiliation and this attachment and rootedness to the land.  If our people had actually held on to the land of Palestine, we would not have seen what we saw of the migration of Jews in such huge numbers at the airports as they rushed to emigrate since the beginning of the war after we made the Palestinians taste our woes of killing, imprisonment, siege, and separation, and we drowned them with drugs and invaded their ideas with nonsense that distances them from their religion, such as liberation, atheism, and doubt Islam, corruption, and homosexuality.

But what is strange about the matter is that one of them is a drug addict, but he rises in defense of his land and the farthest lands, as if he were an old man with a turban, and his voice was neighing: “God is Great.” This is in addition to the fact that they know what awaits them in terms of humiliation and the arrest of some people, and they have never hesitated to go to perform prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque. Ironically, the armies of countries fully equipped did not dare to do what the Palestinian resistance did in a few days after the mask of the invincible Israeli soldier fell and he began to be killed and kidnapped.

As long as Tel Aviv has tasted the resistance’s missiles, it is better to abandon our false dream of Greater Israel. The Palestinians must have a neighboring state that is at peace with us and with whom we are at peace. This will only prolong our survival on this land for a few more years. I believe that even after a thousand years, if we are able to continue as a Jewish state for the next ten years, a day must come when we pay the entire bill. The Palestinian will be resurrected again and again, and this time he will come riding his horse, heading towards Tel Aviv.

Everything we attempted to do has failed. We could not destroy Hamas or the Palestinians. We were powerless in preventing the Syrian revolution. We killed Nasrallah but failed to destroy Hezbollah. We most certainly did not destroy the Houthis. We lost. Israel has failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives nor has it dampened the spirits of the indomitable Palestinians. On top of that, Israel has exposed itself as a thoroughly immoral rogue regime without a trace of humanity.

This is how Abdal Jawad Omar summed it up at Mondoweiss: The war has laid bare…. Israel’s racialized supremacy, its monstrous capacity for destruction, and its deeply entangled web of ideological, psychic, and political investments in erasure and domination.  The war has exposed the exceptionalism surrounding Israel—not only in granting the state impunity, not only in silencing and suppressing dissent across Europe and North America, not only within academic institutions, or mainstream media but in its brazen ability to commit crimes live on air. Yet, it is also this very exceptionalism, this enforced limit on discourse that calls attention to Israel’s unmasking as a Jewish supremacist and settler-colonial state.  Mondo Weiss

Still—even though Israel’s public image has been forever tarnished—the present agreement does not bode well for the Palestinians either. First of all, there is no incentive for Israel to implement all three phases of the deal. Once the 33 Israeli hostages are returned, Netanyahu can simply terminate the agreement and resume the onslaught, which is precisely what his supporters expect him to do.

What is getting clearer at this unique moment is that Hamas, a small Palestinian movement, defeated not only Israel, but the entire West – all of it! It won on the battlefield, and it won in public opinion. It managed to make spectacular use of its reading of Israeli mentality, and it employed every asset it had with extreme efficiency.

And, this from a Jew who no longer lives in Israel: It has not been destroyed or dismantled. It kept virtually every captive it took 6 months ago. It yielded to no pressure. It remains functional and lethal, in a besieged and bombed to oblivion tiny strip if land. History will judge the last six months as one of the most genius and unbelievable achievements in all military history. This is beyond unfathomable. By waging this war this way, by not thinking or feeling,Israel made Hamas a legend of resistance that will live in cultural memory for ages. No one believed they could pull this off. But they did. And they changed history forever. Palestine is never returning to the shadows again. Hamas won”.

3 The Ceasefire Charade

Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It  signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants — in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza — but Israel to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable peace. It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a provocation and abrogates the ceasefire deal to reignite the slaughter. If this latest three-phase ceasefire deal is ratified — and there is that it will be by Israel — it will, I expect, be little more than a presidential inauguration bombing pause. Israel has no intention of halting its merry-go-round of death.

The deep fissures between Israel and Hamas, even if the Israelis finally accept the agreement, threaten to implode it. Hamas is seeking a permanent ceasefire. But Israeli policy is unequivocal about its “right” to re-engage militarily.

Israeli Mendacity and Manipulation is Pitifully Predictable.

The Camp David Accords signed in 1979 by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, without the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt. But the subsequent phases, which included a promise by Israel to resolve the Palestinian question along with Jordan and Egypt, permit Palestinian self-governance in the West Bank and Gaza within five years, and end the building of Israeli colonies in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were pushed into the future.

Or take the 1993 Oslo Accords. The agreement,  in 1993, which saw the PLO recognize Israel’s right to exist and Israel recognize the PLO as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people, and Oslo II, signed in 1995, which detailed the process towards peace and a Palestinian state, was stillborn. It stipulated that any discussion of illegal Jewish “settlements” was to be delayed until “final’ status talks, by which time Israeli military withdrawals from the occupied West Bank were to have been completed. Governing authority was to be from Israel to the supposedly temporary Palestinian Authority. The West Bank was carved up into Areas A, B and C. The Palestinian Authority has limited authority in Areas A and B. Israel controls all of Area C, over 60 percent of the West Bank. The right of Palestinian refugees to return to the historic lands seized from them in 1948 when Israel was created — a right enshrined in international law — was given up by the PLO leader Yasser Arafat, instantly alienating many Palestinians, especially those in Gaza where 75 percent are refugees or the descendants of refugees. Edward Said the Oslo agreement “an instrument of Palestinian surrender, The scheduled Israeli military withdrawals under Oslo never took place. There was no provision in the interim agreement to end Jewish colonization, only a prohibition of “unilateral steps.” There were around 250,000 Jewish colonists in the West Bank at the time of the Oslo agreement. They have grown to at least 700,000. No final treaty was ever concluded. The journalist Robert Fisk called Oslo “a sham, a lie, a trick to entangle Arafat and the PLO into abandonment of all that they had sought and struggled for over a quarter of a century, a method of creating false hope in order to emasculate the aspiration of statehood.”

Israel has carried out a series of murderous assaults on Gaza ever since, cynically the bombardment “mowing the lawn.” These attacks, which leave scores of dead and wounded and further degrade Gaza’s fragile infrastructure, have names such as Operation Rainbow (2004), Operation Days of Penitence (2004), Operation Summer Rains (2006), Operation Autumn Clouds (2006) and Operation Hot Winter (2008). Israel  broke the June 2008 ceasefire agreement with Hamas, brokered by Egypt, by launching a border raid that killed six Hamas members. The raid provoked, as Israel intended, a retaliatory strike by Hamas, which fired crude rockets and mortar shells into Israel. The Hamas barrage provided the pretext for a massive Israeli attack. Israel, as it always does, justified its military strike on the right to defend itself.

Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009), which saw Israel carry out a ground and aerial assault over 22 days, with the Israeli air force dropping over 1,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, killed 1,385 —  of whom at least 762 were civilians, including 300 children. Four Israelis were killed over the same period by Hamas rockets and nine Israeli soldiers died in Gaza, four of whom were victims of “friendly fire.” The Israeli newspaper Haaretz would later report that “Operation Cast Lead” had been prepared over the previous six months. Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, who served in the Israeli military, wrote that: “The brutality of Israel’s soldiers is fully matched by the mendacity of its spokesman…their propaganda is a pack of lies…It was not Hamas but the IDF that broke the ceasefire. It did so by a raid into Gaza on 4 November that killed six Hamas men. Israel’s objective is not just the defense of its population, but the eventual overthrow of the Hamas government in Gaza by turning the people against their rulers”.

These series of attacks on Gaza were followed by Israeli assaults in November 2012, known as Operation Pillar of Defense and in July and August 2014 in Operation Protective Edge that left 2,251 Palestinians dead, along with 73 Israelis, including 67 soldiers. These assaults by the Israeli military were followed in 2018 by largely peaceful protests by Palestinians, known as The Great March of Return, along Gaza’s fenced-in barrier. Over 266 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers and 30,000 more were injured. In May 2021, Israel over 256 Palestinians in Gaza were killed followed   by Israeli police attack on Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. Further assaults on worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque took place in April 2023.

And then the breaching of the security barriers on Oct. 7, 2023 that enclose Gaza, where Palestinians had under a blockade for over 16 years in an open air prison. The attacks by Palestinian gunmen left some 1,200 Israeli — including hundreds by Israel itself dead  — and gave Israel the excuse it had long sought to lay waste to Gaza. This horrific saga is not over. Israel’s goals remain unchanged – the erasure of Palestinians from their land. This proposed ceasefire is one more cynical chapter. There are many ways it can and, I suspect, will fall apart. But let us pray, at least for the moment, that the mass slaughter will stop.

Our next article is called “Israel still faces more regional threats “.