Víctor de Currea-Lugo | 15 January 2025
Of course, I am glad that there is a compromise that will stop the killing in Palestine and free the people who have lost their freedom, but the truce does not mean the end of the occupation, much less of Zionism.
Contacts and indirect negotiations began a few days after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (October 7, 2023). And beyond the well-deserved joy of the families who are recovering their loved ones, the silence of the bombers and the rifles, several questions remain.
Furthermore, what can be subject to ambiguous interpretations and new tensions? What will be implemented, and what will not? Israel has not respected what was signed with Hezbollah, so it is easy to doubt its word, especially after Hamas releases the detainees.
And if the above were not enough, what about the genocide, ethnic cleansing, and occupation of the Palestinians? It is not the first time that the Palestinian resistance and the State of Israel negotiated, reached an agreement, and exchanged detainees, but it is the first time that Israel has reached an agreement so weak and fractured.
Israel accepts the truce due to the pressure of its society for those detained by Hamas and for its military failure in not achieving either the extermination of Hamas or even the total invasion of the territory of Gaza. On the Palestinian side, this truce is the lesser evil that can happen to the Gazans, but that does not make it all that good.
Israel was unable to achieve its announced military rescues, nor did it even manage to control the now destroyed north of Gaza, where until a few days ago, it continued to suffer casualties due to the action of the resistance. Israel gives in not out of conviction but with a taste of failure.
On May 6, 2024, international mediators made a proposal accepted by Hamas. This included the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas of Gaza, cessation of hostilities, limitations on Israeli air operations, Hamas’ release of detainees, release of Palestinians, free movement of displaced Palestinians, and unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid.
Now, 8 months later, Israel signs a proposal on the terms that Hamas had already proposed and accepted. Were the bombings and massacres necessary from that time to this part? The truce here is not an achievement of peace but rather a failure of war.
Another failure of Netanyahu in Palestine
Netanyahu insisted that he would not sign without achieving his objectives: destroying Hamas and rescuing Israeli citizens. He said clearly: «The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all our objectives is out of the question.» But he finally signed.
These negotiations are for this juncture, for what has happened since October 7, 2023. Nothing is said here about the occupation, the ethnic cleansing, or the genocide that has been going on for decades. Presenting a truce as peace makes it easier for Israel to try to clean up its face, but we cannot forget that part of the damage has been done to Israel.
Let us remember that genocide has nothing to do with the number of dead, so Israel’s genocidal intention does not disappear because it suspends the killing for a while. The challenge of the international community remains, although many will turn off their few reflectors under the protection of the truce.
The truth is that the world was not up to the promises of law, nor the Muslims up to their duty to defend the umma, nor the Arabs to protect their brothers. Nor did the press defend the truth, nor did the academy defend reason.
Here, we must ask whether Saudi Arabia has enough arguments with the truce to formalize its relations with Israel and whether the UN will come out to say that it achieved something and give itself medals.
Israel indeed mortgaged part of its future. It destroyed Gaza, but it did not win. Militarily, it has shown that it is vulnerable to Iran and that it could not cope with Hezbollah, which is weak. Socially, its society is broken, and the thousands who fled Israel will think twice before returning.
But Israel’s greatest failure was its promise to offer a safe and legal place to Jews: there is no place more unsafe for Jews today than Israel, nor a more illegal place to stay than the occupied territories. Zionism as a project failed.
But this failure of Zionism was paid with hundreds of thousands of liters of Palestinian blood. The price has been painful. The Palestinian cause would not be the same today without what happened on October 7, 2023, but the price has been ineffable.
Hamas remains, and everything indicates that it will stay as the articulating axis of more than a dozen resistance groups. According to the available information, the flow of new fighters continues, which is understandable if we think that the Palestinians are facing a genocide, abandoned by the world and with no other option but to resist.
The damage done to Israel’s image is considerable, but we are in a world that believes the United States won in Vietnam. The Israeli economy is affected, but it has the American wallet. Israel violated all international law, but those rules are merely recommendations for selective application.
If we let the world close the debate on genocide with this truce, we will be condemning the Palestinians to a new slaughter, whether in a week or a couple of years. But we will have forgotten what happened in the last few months, just as we have forgotten what happened in the previous 76 years.
