Palestinians filled the streets of the besieged Gaza Strip upon the news that a long-desired ceasefire deal was reached in the 15-month war that upended their lives into uncertainty, inflicting bloodshed and causing tens of thousands of deaths.
After numerous starts, pauses, and restarts, negotiations involving the occupier state of Israel, the resistance group Hamas, and mediators representing the United States, Egypt, and Qatar made inroads into an agreement. Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced the deal from the capital Doha on Jan. 15.
At Final Call presstime it was announced that the deal was set to begin Jan. 19 with a 42-day halt in bombings and air strikes, starting a daily flow of 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid, exchanging Israeli captives and others held in Gaza with Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
However, some observers warn that although Israel touts concern for retrieving its captured citizens, ceasefire or not, Israel has more sinister interests in continuing war.
Mr. Netanyahu said in Jan. 18 remarks to the Zionist State, that Israel is treating the ceasefire as temporary and retains the right to continue fighting if necessary.
In the televised statement just 12 hours before the ceasefire was due to start, Mr. Netanyahu said, days earlier, he received the green light from President-elect Donald Trump to resume fighting if needed.
“I promise you we will meet all the goals of the war,” said Mr. Netanyahu, in words some observers argue were aimed at the extreme elements in his government who opposed the ceasefire deal. His remarks were broadcast online via several news outlets.
“If Israel goes back to fighting, we will do it in new ways and we will do it very powerfully,” said the embattled Netanyahu. “We reserve the right to return to fighting if needed with the backing of the United States,” he added.
By press time, Israel continued attacking despite the negotiations. At least 113 Palestinians were killed, including 28 children and 31 women, in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the announcement of the ceasefire deal, reported Al Jazeera. At the same time, Israel also shelled the West Bank, killing more people.
Some analysts contend after 15 months of genocidal war on Palestinians, Israel cannot be trusted.
Sultan Rahman Muhammad, Student National Imam of the Nation of Islam, said that what is being witnessed is the “unfolding of the truth,” that the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, spoke during his Saviours’ Day message titled: “What Does Allah The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?” delivered February 25, 2024 in Detroit.
Minister Farrakhan, explaining why Israel continues shedding Palestinian blood despite global condemnation, exposed the sinister aim of Mr. Netanyahu to remake the Middle East and establish “Greater Israel.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has a vision of Eretz Israel. Several states over there, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, they intend to annex that to what is called ‘Greater Israel,’” said Minister Farrakhan. “Do you know about that?
That man already has over 400 nuclear bombs sitting in the desert in Dimona, Israel,” Minister Farrakhan continued. “That’s a lot of weapons. And they, now, feel that they are the power in the Middle East, and they are,” he said.
The wider view that Minister Farrakhan revealed nearly one year ago lends context to why the ceasefire, while welcomed, is deeply fragile.
Concerns, questions and uncertainty
“There’s just a lot of unanswered questions,” said Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute For Policy Studies.
“This is an important first step towards a permanent ceasefire. But this is not the end of the game,” she said, adding, “This is a step.” Ms. Bennis told The Final Call the decision is key because it will save lives amid a humanitarian crisis spawned by the war.
Deep scars exist from the war raging since Oct. 7, 2023, that legal experts and rights advocates charge is genocide. The deal comes after tens of thousands of Palestinians—mostly woman and children were displaced, slaughtered, injured, and many buried under mangled rubble.
The turmoil is the “latest” iteration of eight decades of bloodshed, since the violent advent of Israel as an occupier state in 1948, after being deposited there by America and Britain.
“I think that our people have gone through hell for 467 days, unimaginable suffering and loss,” said Muhammad Sankari, spokesman for the U.S. Palestinian Community Network-Chicago (USPCN). “But at the back end of it, they came out victorious,” he said. However, a “difficult victory,” he explained.
“How can you claim victory when you have at least 50,000 dead people, 17,000 of which are children?” Mr. Sankari questioned. He asserts what is most important is the Israelis completely failed at what they were hoping to achieve which was to completely dismantle the Palestinian resistance. “They wanted to empty Gaza.”
“They failed,” he added.
Can the ceasefire hold?
Despite, the agreement and subsequent back and forth between outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden and incoming President-Elect Donald Trump, over who secured the deal and should get the credit, others questioned the sustainability of the “peace” surviving three separate phases over a stretch of time.
“I think with these things, we’ll have to see what’s next,” activist and investigative journalist Eugene Puryear told The Final Call. “There’s already the discussions that Trump had assured the Israelis he will allow them to violate the ceasefire without saying much of anything,” he said.
It’s a phase ceasefire, “so could it collapse somewhere along the line? Absolutely,” Mr. Puryear added. He underscored that the struggle for justice for Palestinians will continue, as there can be no future in the region without resolving this issue. “The reality is … it’s not over until it’s all over,” agreed Mr. Sankari.
He noted that Israel has a record of violating ceasefires, referencing the recent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon in November 2024.
To date, “Israelis have committed over 1,000 violations of that ceasefire,” noted Mr. Sankari.
The Chicago activist expects Israel to do what it has always done before every ceasefire implementation: “Kill as many people as they can in those final hours,” he opines. That is Israel’s modus operandi and will be some of the worst days for the people of Gaza. “That’s unfortunately the reality that history has taught us,” stated Mr. Sankari.
Moving forward
The humanitarian organization Oxfam welcomes the ceasefire. “We are hopeful this deal will herald an end to the bloodshed. After more than a year of a brutal military assault and deliberate, systematic blocking of aid by Israeli authorities, this pause is long overdue,” Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement.
She called on the international community, “especially countries complicit in Israeli atrocities,” to ensure there is no return to violence.
A Jan. 17 statement from UN experts urged all parties to accept the Gaza ceasefire deal, deliver justice and humanitarian aid, and ensure Palestinian self-determination.
“We can only hope that this agreement will end the devastating loss of life, stop the genocidal assault and violence that has tormented millions in the occupied Palestinian territory and brought apocalyptic destruction in the Gaza Strip,” said the statement.
The experts warned that the challenges ahead were monumental, with more than 70 percent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure destroyed mainly by the relentless bombing.
Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard says that while the ceasefire may provide a glimmer of hope for Palestinians, it is “terribly overdue.” She called out the international community’s failure to pressure Israel to live up to its legal obligations and allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.
“For Palestinians who have lost so much, there is little to celebrate when there is no guarantee that they will get justice and reparation for the horrifying crimes they have suffered,” stated Ms. Callamard in a statement.
For Mr. Puryear, moving forward, “this is not the last battle” and that it is conclusive Israel failed to destroy the Palestinian cause. There is no future in the Middle East without resolving the Palestinian issue in a way that Palestinians can agree to.
“And until that happens, as long as there’s apartheid and ethnic cleansing and genocide, as opposed to justice and a just settlement, the struggle will continue,” said Mr. Puryear.
