February 9, 2025
CAIRO: Egypt condemned statements by Israeli officials suggesting the establishment of a ‘Palestinian state on Saudi territory’ as “irresponsible” on Saturday.
Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement the idea was a “direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty” and that the kingdom’s security was a “red line for Egypt”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be joking this week when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who misspoke by saying “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state” before correcting himself. “A Palestinian state,” Netanyahu said, correcting the interviewer. “Unless you want the Palestinian state to be in Saudi Arabia, they have a lot of territory,” Netanyahu added, smiling during the interview, conducted in Washington.
The Egyptian statement did not directly refer to Netanyahu but said such remarks were “reprehensible aggression and an infringement of diplomatic norms”.
President Donald Trump suggested this week that the United States take control of Gaza from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan. Arab nations want to see a two-state solution with a separate Palestinian homeland alongside Israel.
Trump later said Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalising ties with Israel. But Saudi Arabia rebuffed his statements, and said it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza, territory they want to form part of an independent state, has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and neighbouring Arab states have rejected it since the Gaza conflict began.
Trump’s plan has received global condemnation, with regional and global leaders saying such a move would threaten regional stability. Trump said on Friday he was in no rush to implement his plan to take over and redevelop Gaza.
Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2025
‘Democratic’ ethnic cleansing
Abbas Nasir
Published February 9, 2025
DAWN
THE discourse on democracy in the West — in particular — is self-congratulatory, and other systems that have delivered hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, hunger, illness, illiteracy and constant want are looked upon with disdain, suspicion, even derision.
For all my life, I have been a firm believer in democracy as the only viable system of governance which is rules-based and ensures participatory politics, inclusion and safeguards of the rights of the many. This was the theory at least. Of late, dozens of example of flawed democracy have shaken — all but shattered — my faith in the system.
When US President Donald Trump announced his Gaza ethnic cleansing plan from the White House podium, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood next to him with a smirk affixed to his face, the international outrage was only directed at what Trump’s words represented.
It was a few days later that someone pointed out on X that these words were uttered by a convicted felon as he was feting a man wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity that is war crimes.
There were always going to be three possible outcomes of the Palestinian struggle for freedom.
And if this was ironical, even more so was the fact that ‘democratic Europe’, many of whose leaders have often been uncomfortable with the manner in which the US has bulldozed its way through world affairs, quietly held out guarantees to Israel that their leader should not fear arrest to face war crimes charges as he flew over Greek, Italian and French air space en route to Washington, D.C.’s Andrews Air Force Base.
From African dictators to Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic (who died in his cell in The Hague) to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military chief Ratko Mladic, all must wonder what they did wrong to be arrested and hauled before the International Criminal Court or tribunals to be tried for war crimes, when Netanyahu is feted in the White House and assured of ‘no arrest’ if his plane were to land anywhere in Europe.
Not just that. The honoured guest smiled on as his host publicly committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza in a so-called plan that one Israeli commentator called the coming true of a … dream of the far right of the apartheid state. All international law experts and human rights groups said any such move would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing, even genocide.
Trump apologists in the US quickly started spinning his plan as ‘out of the box’ thoughts to find a solution to a long-standing issue. There was some back-pedalling by the White House spokesperson and the secretary of state, both of whom said the president was misunderstood and he didn’t mean for the Palestinians to be relocated permanently. This, when the president used the word ‘permanently’ too.
On the conclusion of his visit to Israel and a quick in and out of occupied Gaza, presidential envoy Steve Witkoff had said it would take 10-15 years to clear the rubble and unexploded ordnance from the Strip before its rebuilding could start. What was the implication of this ‘assessment’, if not relocation?
The Gaza forced expulsion plan has been the subject of a think tank’s commissioned study and a ministerial report, both of which have been discussed in the Israeli cabinet. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said exactly the same last year as the president has proposed now.
To property developers Trump, Kushner and Witkoff, Gaza is real estate worth drooling over, and its two million Palestinian inhabitants, the rightful owners of the land, no more than an inconvenience. This is no less than a godsend for the Israeli premier who, before Oct 7, 2023, was facing corruption charges that many Israeli legal experts thought would not only see him ejected from office but also land him in a prison cell.
Both Trump and Netanyahu are not freaks but products of a flawed democratic order where the hard right’s capture of the narrative allows it to manipulate public opinion to its advantage. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is another glaring example. He has been in power for 15 years and is the longest-serving prime minister of his country and has completely brought all state institutions, including the judiciary, under his thumb.
The problem with many of us commentators and aspirational democrats is that we see world systems through the tainted Western lens that downplays their own flaws and development and innovation in societies such as the Chinese today and the Soviet Union in years gone by.
Reverting to the Middle East crisis, there were always going to be three possible outcomes of the Palestinian struggle for freedom. The first was a viable two-state solution, which would have meant concessions by Israel that it has been unwilling to make. The second could have been ‘one state’, with equal rights and dignity for all citizens. One can also see how Israel would recoil from it, as apartheid is the cornerstone of the Zionist state.
The third and what should be called the ‘final solution’ is what is being proposed now. The expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza (announced already) in the first phase and annexation of the West Bank and mass expulsion of up to a million Palestinians from there. Yes, it is called ethnic cleansing, which is a war crime.
It is the US and Israeli ‘democracies’ proposing this, despite the protestations of their democratic yet ineffectual European allies. Any such move would turn the (despotic) regional Arab nations from being US allies, who have peace deals or potential deals with Israel, into ‘front-line resistance states’, as Palestinian politician Marwan Barghouti explicitly warned and former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Feisal also suggested to CNN.
The driver for the Arab states may well be one of self-preservation, because of the likelihood of explosive repercussions of a ‘forced relocation’, but as long as the Palestinians can get some justice, all else is unimportant.
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com
Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2025
Unexploded ordnance imperils thousands of lives in Gaza
AFP
AFP
Published February 9, 2025
PARIS: Unexploded bombs and shells buried in the ruins of Gaza could kill or injure thousands of people in the conflict-stricken Palestinian territory in the future, an aid organisation has warned.
The volume of ordnance dropped on Gaza during 15 months of conflict between Israel and Hamas was “mind-boggling”, said Simon Elmont, a demining expert with Handicap International — Humanity & Inclusion.
“The amount of ordnance that has been fired is an enormous quantity,” Elmont said, adding that between nine and 13 per cent of munitions fail to explode on initial impact. “It is going to be tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance, that’s for sure,” he added.
He said that the contamination level in Gaza was massive, and much of the ordnance “lies mainly within the rubble and underneath the surface of Gaza”. Hamas and Israel have agreed a ceasefire, which came into effect on Jan 19 and ushered in a fragile calm.
‘Fatal’
Elmont warned of the risk of multiple deaths and injuries as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians return home to recover their belongings and try to rebuild. “The potential is for hundreds, if not thousands, of incidents where people potentially are injured. And unfortunately, some of those injuries will be fatal,” Elmont said.
“We know that people will start to try to find their personal effects. They will be entering damaged and destroyed buildings. They will start moving the rubble around,” Elmont added. “Our great concern now is that as they’re doing that, they will come across ordnance.” Citing recent video footage, the expert said a Gazan child had been hospitalised after another child threw a grenade at him, “believing it was a toy”.
“Making the war-ravaged territory safe from unexploded bombs is especially difficult because it is impossible to evacuate the population from the territories to be decontaminated”, he said. “The problem in Gaza is that there is nowhere to move them to,” Elmont said.
Another problem, he said, was the lack of a security force or a functioning authority to enforce safety cordons during clearance operations. “In Gaza this is unique in that those don’t exist at the moment.”
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 48,181 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data provided by Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2025
PARIS: Unexploded bombs and shells buried in the ruins of Gaza could kill or injure thousands of people in the conflict-stricken Palestinian territory in the future, an aid organisation has warned.
The volume of ordnance dropped on Gaza during 15 months of conflict between Israel and Hamas was “mind-boggling”, said Simon Elmont, a demining expert with Handicap International — Humanity & Inclusion.
“The amount of ordnance that has been fired is an enormous quantity,” Elmont said, adding that between nine and 13 per cent of munitions fail to explode on initial impact. “It is going to be tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance, that’s for sure,” he added.
He said that the contamination level in Gaza was massive, and much of the ordnance “lies mainly within the rubble and underneath the surface of Gaza”. Hamas and Israel have agreed a ceasefire, which came into effect on Jan 19 and ushered in a fragile calm.
‘Fatal’
Elmont warned of the risk of multiple deaths and injuries as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians return home to recover their belongings and try to rebuild. “The potential is for hundreds, if not thousands, of incidents where people potentially are injured. And unfortunately, some of those injuries will be fatal,” Elmont said.
“We know that people will start to try to find their personal effects. They will be entering damaged and destroyed buildings. They will start moving the rubble around,” Elmont added. “Our great concern now is that as they’re doing that, they will come across ordnance.” Citing recent video footage, the expert said a Gazan child had been hospitalised after another child threw a grenade at him, “believing it was a toy”.
“Making the war-ravaged territory safe from unexploded bombs is especially difficult because it is impossible to evacuate the population from the territories to be decontaminated”, he said. “The problem in Gaza is that there is nowhere to move them to,” Elmont said.
Another problem, he said, was the lack of a security force or a functioning authority to enforce safety cordons during clearance operations. “In Gaza this is unique in that those don’t exist at the moment.”
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 48,181 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data provided by Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2025
Why Trump’s proposal on Palestinian displacement from Gaza rings alarm bells in the region
US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza, shattered by 15 months of Israel’s bombardment, is seen raising concerns among the enclave’s inhabitants as well as its neighbours.
The proposal is likely to heighten fears among Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians of being driven out of the coastal strip, and stoke concern in Arab states which have long been worried about the destabilising impact any such exodus would have.
What is behind the concerns?
Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes when Israel proclaimed its creation in 1948.
Many were driven out or fled to neighbouring Arab states, including to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where many of them or their descendants still live in refugee camps. Some went to Gaza. Israel disputes the account that they were forced out.
The latest conflict since has seen an unprecedented Israeli bombardment and land offensive in Gaza, devastating urban areas. Palestinians and UN officials say there are no longer any safe areas in Gaza to seek shelter.
Most Gazans have already been displaced several times during Israel’s onslaught, launched after Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
The military campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. A recent study by academics assessing the period till June 2024 suggests that the death toll could be 40 per cent higher.
What have Israel’s govt and its politicians said?
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Feb 16, 2024 that Israel had no plans to deport Palestinians from Gaza. Israel would coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees and find a way to not harm Egypt’s interests, Katz added.
However, comments by some in the government have stoked Palestinian and Arab fears of a new Nakba.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Dec 31, 2023 for Palestinian residents of Gaza to leave the besieged enclave. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the war presented an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza”.
After Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Dec 10, 2023 that Israel’s military operation was “a systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people”, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy called those comments “outrageous and false accusations”.
According to a Reuters report from October 2024, which cited various sources, Israeli leaders were seeking to lock in strategic gains that go beyond military victories — to carve out de facto buffer zones and shield its borders from any future attacks.
Header image: A drone view shows Palestinians waiting to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza after they were displaced to the south at Israel’s order during its war, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip on January 26. — Reuters/Stringer
US president's suggestion to Egypt, Jordan to take in more Gaza residents heightens fears among Palestinians of being forcibly displaced in yet another "Nakba".
US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza, shattered by 15 months of Israel’s bombardment, is seen raising concerns among the enclave’s inhabitants as well as its neighbours.
The proposal is likely to heighten fears among Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians of being driven out of the coastal strip, and stoke concern in Arab states which have long been worried about the destabilising impact any such exodus would have.
What is behind the concerns?
Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes when Israel proclaimed its creation in 1948.
Many were driven out or fled to neighbouring Arab states, including to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where many of them or their descendants still live in refugee camps. Some went to Gaza. Israel disputes the account that they were forced out.
The latest conflict since has seen an unprecedented Israeli bombardment and land offensive in Gaza, devastating urban areas. Palestinians and UN officials say there are no longer any safe areas in Gaza to seek shelter.
Most Gazans have already been displaced several times during Israel’s onslaught, launched after Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
The military campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. A recent study by academics assessing the period till June 2024 suggests that the death toll could be 40 per cent higher.
Palestinians wait to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza after they were displaced to the south at Israel’s order during its war, in the central Gaza Strip on January 26. — Reuters/Mohammed Salem
What has happened during this conflict?
Before Israel launched its onslaught, it told Palestinians in north Gaza to move to what it said were safe areas in the south. As the offensive expanded, Israel told them to head further south towards Rafah.
According to UN estimates, up to 85pc of the 2.3 million people in Gaza — one of the most densely populated areas of the world — have already been displaced from their homes.
Many Palestinians in Gaza have said they would not leave even if they could because they fear it might lead to another permanent displacement in a repeat of 1948.
Egypt, meanwhile, has kept the border firmly closed except to let a few thousand foreigners, dual nationals and a handful of others leave Gaza. Egypt and other Arab nations strongly oppose any attempt to push Palestinians over the border.
Yet, the scale of this conflict eclipses other Gaza crises or flare-ups in past decades, and the humanitarian disaster deepens for Palestinians by the day.
What has happened during this conflict?
Before Israel launched its onslaught, it told Palestinians in north Gaza to move to what it said were safe areas in the south. As the offensive expanded, Israel told them to head further south towards Rafah.
According to UN estimates, up to 85pc of the 2.3 million people in Gaza — one of the most densely populated areas of the world — have already been displaced from their homes.
Many Palestinians in Gaza have said they would not leave even if they could because they fear it might lead to another permanent displacement in a repeat of 1948.
Egypt, meanwhile, has kept the border firmly closed except to let a few thousand foreigners, dual nationals and a handful of others leave Gaza. Egypt and other Arab nations strongly oppose any attempt to push Palestinians over the border.
Yet, the scale of this conflict eclipses other Gaza crises or flare-ups in past decades, and the humanitarian disaster deepens for Palestinians by the day.
Palestinians wait to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza after they were displaced to the south at Israel’s order during its war, in the central Gaza Strip on January 26. — Reuters/Hatem Khaled
What are Arab, Western states and the UN saying?
From the earliest days of the conflict, Arab governments, particularly Egypt and Jordan, said Palestinians must not be driven from the land where they want to make a future state, which would include the West Bank and Gaza.
Like Palestinians, they fear any mass movement across the border would further undermine prospects for a “two-state solution” — the idea of creating a state of Palestine next to Israel — and leave Arab nations dealing with the consequences.
Top UN officials have added their voices to concerns about a mass displacement. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said last February it was an “illusion” to think people in Gaza could evacuate to a safe place.
What are Arab, Western states and the UN saying?
From the earliest days of the conflict, Arab governments, particularly Egypt and Jordan, said Palestinians must not be driven from the land where they want to make a future state, which would include the West Bank and Gaza.
Like Palestinians, they fear any mass movement across the border would further undermine prospects for a “two-state solution” — the idea of creating a state of Palestine next to Israel — and leave Arab nations dealing with the consequences.
Top UN officials have added their voices to concerns about a mass displacement. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said last February it was an “illusion” to think people in Gaza could evacuate to a safe place.
What have Israel’s govt and its politicians said?
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Feb 16, 2024 that Israel had no plans to deport Palestinians from Gaza. Israel would coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees and find a way to not harm Egypt’s interests, Katz added.
However, comments by some in the government have stoked Palestinian and Arab fears of a new Nakba.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Dec 31, 2023 for Palestinian residents of Gaza to leave the besieged enclave. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the war presented an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza”.
After Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Dec 10, 2023 that Israel’s military operation was “a systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people”, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy called those comments “outrageous and false accusations”.
According to a Reuters report from October 2024, which cited various sources, Israeli leaders were seeking to lock in strategic gains that go beyond military victories — to carve out de facto buffer zones and shield its borders from any future attacks.
Header image: A drone view shows Palestinians waiting to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza after they were displaced to the south at Israel’s order during its war, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip on January 26. — Reuters/Stringer
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025
West Bank’s turn
DAWN
MERE days after pausing the Gaza genocide, Israel has turned its guns on the occupied West Bank.
Though Israel had been conducting raids in the West Bank while simultaneously carrying out the slaughter in Gaza in the aftermath of Oct 7, 2023, with the ceasefire taking effect in the Strip on Sunday, Tel Aviv is now free to concentrate its attention on the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Raids were stepped up earlier this week, with around a dozen people killed, while residents of the Jenin refugee camp have been forcibly evacuated.
As a UN official has noted, Israel is applying “war fighting” methods in the West Bank. While Tel Aviv had cited Hamas as the casus belli for the Gaza rampage, the West Bank is ruled by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. This shows that Israel has a problem with all Palestinians, regardless of their political affiliations.
Israel’s actions in the West Bank have very swiftly shattered the illusion that the Gaza ceasefire would bring peace to the occupied territories. The Zionist state — as it has shown over the decades — thrives on conflict, and peacemaking is not a priority for the Israeli ruling elite.
Couple this with the fact that the current occupant of the White House is surrounded by zealous Zionists, and the future for the Palestinians does not look good. It is highly likely that Israel will try and annex the West Bank, with the Trump administration egging it on. This will likely turbo-charge the Palestinian resistance, as Arabs in both Gaza and the West Bank fight for survival.
It is also a fact that the Lebanon ceasefire is due to expire in a few days, and Tel Aviv has no plans to withdraw from south Lebanon. While Hezbollah may be weakened, it can still put up a fight. Therefore, it may only be a matter of time before the ‘multifront’ war resumes in the region.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025
MERE days after pausing the Gaza genocide, Israel has turned its guns on the occupied West Bank.
Though Israel had been conducting raids in the West Bank while simultaneously carrying out the slaughter in Gaza in the aftermath of Oct 7, 2023, with the ceasefire taking effect in the Strip on Sunday, Tel Aviv is now free to concentrate its attention on the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Raids were stepped up earlier this week, with around a dozen people killed, while residents of the Jenin refugee camp have been forcibly evacuated.
As a UN official has noted, Israel is applying “war fighting” methods in the West Bank. While Tel Aviv had cited Hamas as the casus belli for the Gaza rampage, the West Bank is ruled by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. This shows that Israel has a problem with all Palestinians, regardless of their political affiliations.
Israel’s actions in the West Bank have very swiftly shattered the illusion that the Gaza ceasefire would bring peace to the occupied territories. The Zionist state — as it has shown over the decades — thrives on conflict, and peacemaking is not a priority for the Israeli ruling elite.
Couple this with the fact that the current occupant of the White House is surrounded by zealous Zionists, and the future for the Palestinians does not look good. It is highly likely that Israel will try and annex the West Bank, with the Trump administration egging it on. This will likely turbo-charge the Palestinian resistance, as Arabs in both Gaza and the West Bank fight for survival.
It is also a fact that the Lebanon ceasefire is due to expire in a few days, and Tel Aviv has no plans to withdraw from south Lebanon. While Hezbollah may be weakened, it can still put up a fight. Therefore, it may only be a matter of time before the ‘multifront’ war resumes in the region.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025
GAZA
A fleeting peace
Zahid Hussain
THE guns have gone silent in Gaza with the ceasefire coming into effect, as life limps back to what is considered normal in the enclave, devastated by incessant Israeli bombing for the past 15 months.
But the war is far from over with the Zionist regime still not willing to end its occupation. It’s only the first phase of the three-stage truce process that is being implemented; there are still questions about Israel fulfilling its promise of complete withdrawal.
An eerie calm prevails, with the people of Gaza continuing to live under siege. Two Palestinian men, including a teenager, were killed by Israeli forces hours after the ceasefire started.
The Israeli prime minister has threatened to resume military operations if the second phase of the truce doesn’t work. There is still no mention of an independent Palestinian state.
It is a tentative peace with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returning to the rubble that was once their home. There are still dead bodies buried underneath. Each one of them has lost a family member or acquaintance in the genocide that has left more than 46,000 people dead and thousands of others gravely injured. Most of them are children.
Yet the resilience of the people who have gone through a genocidal war is indomitable. The spectacle of thousands of people celebrating the ceasefire, waving Palestinian flags on the streets of the devastated enclave underscores their resolve in the face of adversity. Israel’s military might, backed by the United States, has failed to destroy the resistance.
Hamas was back taking charge immediately after the ceasefire. Thousands of Hamas fighters have re-emerged from hiding and have re-established control over the enclave. It was apparent that despite the horror it has wrought Israel has failed to achieve its main objective of eliminating the resistance groups.
According to some reports, more recruits have joined the militant outfits, replacing the fighters who were killed by Israeli forces.
The resilience of the people who have gone through a genocidal war is indomitable.
After months of hectic diplomatic engagements that involved Qatar, Egypt and the US, the two sides finally reached a ceasefire agreement last week. The main resistance to the truce had come from Tel Aviv, which was not willing to withdraw its forces from the occupied territory. The three-phase deal finally came through just days before the installation of Donald Trump as US president.
Interestingly, there was no significant change in the peace draft that has been on the table since May last year. There are several factors that seem to have led to the change of stance by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
It may be true that pressure from Donald Trump forced the right-wing Israeli government to step back from its hard-line position. Trump had repeatedly threatened that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released ahead of his January 20 inauguration.
And surely it did happen with some arm-twisting by Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. According to media reports quoting some Arab diplomats involved in the negotiations, a “tense” weekend meeting between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Witkoff led to a breakthrough in the hostage negotiations.
The first part of the three-phased deal began with a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of the first batch of three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in October 2023, and some 90 Palestinian prisoners by Tel Aviv.
Over the next six weeks, if the deal holds 33 of the roughly 100 remaining hostages still in Gaza, living and dead, and more than 1,000 imprisoned Palestinians held in Israel will be released.
In the second phase a permanent ceasefire would follow complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The third phase envisages reconstruction process lasting from three to five years.
It all sounds good on paper but there is a strong suspicion that Israel, under pressure from its far right, would not abide by the agreement in the second phase. Some coalition members of the Netanyahu government are already talking about not extending the ceasefire to the second phase, which would really mark the effective end of the war.
It remains to be seen how the Trump administration would allow the deal to fall apart. President Trump, who has claimed credit for brokering the ceasefire deal, last week declared that he would build up the momentum of the freshly agreed upon Gaza ceasefire deal to expand the “historic” Abraham Accords.
The US-backed agreements struck during his first term normalised Israel’s relations with several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. “We will continue promoting peace through strength throughout the region” the new US president said.
President Trump would seek to broaden the deal to include major Arab power Saudi Arabia. During his previous term he succeeded to bring Tel Aviv and Riyadh closer. But Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza has halted the move.
Riyadh has said it will not consider normalising relations until Israel commits to a “credible path” to a Palestinian state. “Normalisation and true stability will only come through … giving the Palestinians a state,” declared the Saudi foreign minister.
While there is no indication that the new administration in Washington would press Israel to agree to the two-state solution, President Trump appears optimistic that Saudi Arabia could still be persuaded to come into the fold of the Abraham Accords.
One is not sure that Trump’s Middle East project would work without Israel accepting the two-state solution. In fact, some senior members of Mr Trump’s nominated cabinet favour a further or even complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which could make a viable Palestinian state almost impossible. In such a situation there is no hope of ending the Middle East conflict.
Indeed, the ceasefire, along with provisions to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, has provided some relief to the hapless population. But a temporary peace and opening of the food supply cannot heal the wounds of such relentless oppression.
The most crucial question is whether the Palestinians would be able to get their rights and have full control over their land and their lives. How can people in Gaza live in peace while being under an everlasting state of siege?
The writer is an author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
X: @hidhussain
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2025
Zahid Hussain
DAWN
THE guns have gone silent in Gaza with the ceasefire coming into effect, as life limps back to what is considered normal in the enclave, devastated by incessant Israeli bombing for the past 15 months.
But the war is far from over with the Zionist regime still not willing to end its occupation. It’s only the first phase of the three-stage truce process that is being implemented; there are still questions about Israel fulfilling its promise of complete withdrawal.
An eerie calm prevails, with the people of Gaza continuing to live under siege. Two Palestinian men, including a teenager, were killed by Israeli forces hours after the ceasefire started.
The Israeli prime minister has threatened to resume military operations if the second phase of the truce doesn’t work. There is still no mention of an independent Palestinian state.
It is a tentative peace with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returning to the rubble that was once their home. There are still dead bodies buried underneath. Each one of them has lost a family member or acquaintance in the genocide that has left more than 46,000 people dead and thousands of others gravely injured. Most of them are children.
Yet the resilience of the people who have gone through a genocidal war is indomitable. The spectacle of thousands of people celebrating the ceasefire, waving Palestinian flags on the streets of the devastated enclave underscores their resolve in the face of adversity. Israel’s military might, backed by the United States, has failed to destroy the resistance.
Hamas was back taking charge immediately after the ceasefire. Thousands of Hamas fighters have re-emerged from hiding and have re-established control over the enclave. It was apparent that despite the horror it has wrought Israel has failed to achieve its main objective of eliminating the resistance groups.
According to some reports, more recruits have joined the militant outfits, replacing the fighters who were killed by Israeli forces.
The resilience of the people who have gone through a genocidal war is indomitable.
After months of hectic diplomatic engagements that involved Qatar, Egypt and the US, the two sides finally reached a ceasefire agreement last week. The main resistance to the truce had come from Tel Aviv, which was not willing to withdraw its forces from the occupied territory. The three-phase deal finally came through just days before the installation of Donald Trump as US president.
Interestingly, there was no significant change in the peace draft that has been on the table since May last year. There are several factors that seem to have led to the change of stance by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
It may be true that pressure from Donald Trump forced the right-wing Israeli government to step back from its hard-line position. Trump had repeatedly threatened that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released ahead of his January 20 inauguration.
And surely it did happen with some arm-twisting by Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. According to media reports quoting some Arab diplomats involved in the negotiations, a “tense” weekend meeting between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Witkoff led to a breakthrough in the hostage negotiations.
The first part of the three-phased deal began with a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of the first batch of three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in October 2023, and some 90 Palestinian prisoners by Tel Aviv.
Over the next six weeks, if the deal holds 33 of the roughly 100 remaining hostages still in Gaza, living and dead, and more than 1,000 imprisoned Palestinians held in Israel will be released.
In the second phase a permanent ceasefire would follow complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The third phase envisages reconstruction process lasting from three to five years.
It all sounds good on paper but there is a strong suspicion that Israel, under pressure from its far right, would not abide by the agreement in the second phase. Some coalition members of the Netanyahu government are already talking about not extending the ceasefire to the second phase, which would really mark the effective end of the war.
It remains to be seen how the Trump administration would allow the deal to fall apart. President Trump, who has claimed credit for brokering the ceasefire deal, last week declared that he would build up the momentum of the freshly agreed upon Gaza ceasefire deal to expand the “historic” Abraham Accords.
The US-backed agreements struck during his first term normalised Israel’s relations with several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. “We will continue promoting peace through strength throughout the region” the new US president said.
President Trump would seek to broaden the deal to include major Arab power Saudi Arabia. During his previous term he succeeded to bring Tel Aviv and Riyadh closer. But Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza has halted the move.
Riyadh has said it will not consider normalising relations until Israel commits to a “credible path” to a Palestinian state. “Normalisation and true stability will only come through … giving the Palestinians a state,” declared the Saudi foreign minister.
While there is no indication that the new administration in Washington would press Israel to agree to the two-state solution, President Trump appears optimistic that Saudi Arabia could still be persuaded to come into the fold of the Abraham Accords.
One is not sure that Trump’s Middle East project would work without Israel accepting the two-state solution. In fact, some senior members of Mr Trump’s nominated cabinet favour a further or even complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which could make a viable Palestinian state almost impossible. In such a situation there is no hope of ending the Middle East conflict.
Indeed, the ceasefire, along with provisions to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, has provided some relief to the hapless population. But a temporary peace and opening of the food supply cannot heal the wounds of such relentless oppression.
The most crucial question is whether the Palestinians would be able to get their rights and have full control over their land and their lives. How can people in Gaza live in peace while being under an everlasting state of siege?
The writer is an author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
X: @hidhussain
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2025
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