Prospects for Peace in Palestine

Published on January 24, 2009

A ceasefire by itself does not necessarily lead to peace especially if it absolves Israel of egregious violations of international standards of human rights and international humanitarian law that the United Nations itself has pointed out. The condemnation by the world’s peoples of the use by US backed-Israel of vastly superior, brute and excessive military force in Gaza must not be sidetracked by the ceasefire. We must all take cognizance of the final death toll — 1,284 — with 894 of those civilians including 280 children or teenagers.

BY CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise/Business World
Posted by Bulatlat

The trickiest part in solving a problem is acknowledging, identifying and formulating it correctly. The Palestine-Israel conflict is complex and deeply rooted, complicated by big power rivalry and stakes in the Middle East, and the conflicts spawned and fanned by the Bush-bannered war of terror in the region and worldwide.

Now that a ceasefire has taken place in Gaza with the last of Israel forces reported to have withdrawn from the Strip, the logical question is: how long will this truce last and will a just and lasting peace ensue?

The ceasefire is a welcome development if only because it has stopped, even temporarily, the massive death and destruction inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza. It will allow in unimpeded humanitarian aid without risk of aid workers themselves being attacked by Israeli fire. The ceasefire will make possible a full assessment and disclosure of the conduct of the war by Israel, particularly with regard to the protection or targeting of the civilian population and civilian infrastructures of Gaza given the media restrictions imposed by Israel during the invasion.

It will also allow the start of rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. The Hamas government can focus its efforts on aiding Gazans rebuild their homes and lives rather than be tied down to defending territory and preserving its fighting force and leadership from deadly incursions of Israeli hit squads.

But a ceasefire by itself does not necessarily lead to peace especially if it absolves Israel of egregious violations of international standards of human rights and international humanitarian law that the United Nations itself has pointed out. The condemnation by the world’s peoples of the use by US backed-Israel of vastly superior, brute and excessive military force in Gaza must not be sidetracked by the ceasefire. We must all take cognizance of the final death toll — 1,284 — with 894 of those civilians including 280 children or teenagers.

Historically, ceasefires have served to preserve, legitimize and consolidate Israel’s military and political gains from its wars of aggression in the Middle East. These have also tended to reinforce and perpetuate the impunity with which Israel has committed unspeakable atrocities in Palestine using the pretext of “right to exist” and “right to security”.

The 1947 UN Resolution partitioning Palestine into a Jewish state (56.5 percent of Palestine) and a Palestinian state (43 percent) was eventually rejected by the Palestinians and Arab states and led to a series of Arab-Israeli Wars including the first in 1949, the 1956 Suez Campaign, the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Each and every time, Israel expanded its territory from the 1947 UN partition and imposed greater and more severe military control over the Palestinians.

The 1993 Oslo Accords granted Palestinians the right to self-governance and set up the Palestinian National Authority headed by Yasser Arafat. But it failed to resolve crucial issues: the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland; the Israeli settlements in Gaza and West Bank; the status of Jerusalem; and the final Palestine-Israel borders.

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