Gaza Ceasefire - 5 Non Negotiable Issues

The deal has been criticized for lacking a political horizon of the underlying issues driving the conflict. Moreover, the ceasefire's success depends on difficult factors, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza. RANJAN SOLOMON writes:

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The ceasefire agreement in Gaza, facilitated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt, is a crucial step towards peace in the Middle East, and, particularly between Palestine and Israel. The agreement came into effect Monday 19 January 2025 after nearly 467 days of intense fighting.

There is, not just in Gaza, but around the world among those who were distressed and deeply frustrated by the colossal loss of lives. They know that this could have been avoided months ago. Biden chickened out and allowed Israel to torpedo the negotiations.

The complexities and interconnected history and issues of the conflict meant that the agreement could not be a simple one-off deal. The agreement will be held in multiple stages of implementation, each lasting six weeks, which includes the release of hostages, withdrawal of Israeli forces, and facilitation of humanitarian aid. Even before the ceasefire took effect, Israel had already killed 132 Palestinians and injured over 270. The cease fire must hold. Palestinian, Zionist, Qatari, Egyptian, and American observers will oversee the ceasefire and exchange agreement.

It took a fierce 6-hour debate before the Knesset approved the cease fire. Ministers from the “Otzuma Yehudit” party led by hardliner Ben Gvir, quit the government citing fundamental differences. Far-right minister and hardliner, Bezalel Smotrich has now settled for a 42-day ‘wait-and-see’ after which he threatens there could be renewed hostilities.

Smotrich and his ilk apparently suffer from a denial-syndrome after one hears what the author of the General’s Plan- Giora Eiland, himself said: “Hamas has won… “Israel has been defeated and suffered a resounding defeat”

The deal has been criticized for lacking a political horizon of the underlying issues driving the conflict. Moreover, the ceasefire's success depends on difficult factors, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Israel cannot anymore impose its reputation of being the strongest army in the region. They went through tough schooling in the hands of relentless guerilla and other forms of warfare by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran. The group ‘Stand for Palestine’ has declared that Gaza has won an “uncontested, indisputable, victory”.

Fear gripped droves of Israelis who deserted their sinking ship and left Israel from the very first months of the war. The fear of repeated sirens that sent them helter-skelter to bomb shelters night after night prompted their departures. Guesses are that only small numbers might return. They have shifted their investments out of Israel and multiple businesses and manufacturing units have closed. ‘Refuseniks’ grew in steady numbers and serving forces are reduced to a deflated group of women and men whose motivation was hastily sinking.

The UN, global civil society and experts are advocating for sustained efforts towards solutions that include ensuring accountability for war crimes, rebuilding Gaza's infrastructure, and addressing the root causes of the conflict.

In a three-phase deal Hamas will first release 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children, and those over 50 years old. Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and begin withdrawing from some areas. Humanitarian aid will also increase significantly. Following that, Hamas will free the remaining male hostages, and Israel will withdraw from Gaza. Then will follow the return of deceased hostages and the beginning of reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

The agreement aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and reconstruction. Despite the incongruity in the agreement, notably because of its lack of political horizon, the deal risks freezing the conflict, and rendering Gaza further destroyed. A determined UN and civil society must do all it can to pre-empt this.

Rebuilding Gaza will take massive efforts and significant human resources, and financial investments. Estimating the exact cost and timeframe depends on various factors, including the extent of damage, the scope of reconstruction, and the level of international support.

Approximations of the cost to reconstruct a devastated Gaza Strip, now ranges from $50 to 80 billion or more. If the two-decade blockade continues it would take 80 years for the enclave's economy to recover. This staggering amount will be designated only to restore devastated infrastructure, housing, and the economy of Gaza.

A joint World Bank and UN report estimated that damages to physical structures in Gaza would add up to $18.5 billion, with housing accounting for 72% of the costs. It will need resolute political will in the form of international financial support to which we could add the incalculable resilience of the Palestinians. The end-goal is to reinstate dignity and livelihoods to the people of Gaza.

The total numbers killed and missing in Gaza are staggering. Official records are in the range of about 45,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023. More authentic estimates say that the actual number could be over 186000. Oxfam claims that nearly 20,000 people are unidentified, missing, or entombed beneath rubble.

If one were to add indirect deaths due to starvation and lack of healthcare that number will further spike. The situation in Gaza remains dire and civilian infrastructure, including homes, schools, and hospitals must be prioritized.

As the situation remains fragile, international organizations are preparing to provide aid to the affected areas. UNRWA has 4,000 truckloads of aid ready to enter the Gaza Strip, including food, fuel, medicine, and other vital supplies. The international community wants more than mere relief. It demands full accountability for all atrocities of crimes committed by both sides.

The Gaza war has taken an overwhelming toll on journalists, with at least 160 journalists and media workers killed as of January 10, 2025: 152 Palestinian journalists, two Israeli journalists, and six Lebanese journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that, of these, 11 journalists were directly targeted by Israeli forces. The situation for journalists in Gaza remains extremely challenging, with many facing injuries, arrests, and threats. 49 journalists were injured, two were reported missing, and 75 were arrested as of January 10, 2025.

Gaza is more than mere relief, reconstruction, and development. The UN has emphasized the need for a sustainable and durable ceasefire, accompanied by the lifting of the blockade on Gaza and the provision of humanitarian aid cannot be understated. The Israeli blockade on Gaza has devastated the economy and led to widespread poverty and unemployment. Humanitarian aid to Gaza, including food, shelter, and medical care is merely an interim political feature. Justice and dignity counts most. If living in a concentration camp, cut off from the world is what Gaza finally gets, the war would not have been worth it.

At the level of international NGOs, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has underlined the need for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, which devastated the economy and led to widespread poverty and unemployment. Amnesty International is committed to an independent investigation into war crimes committed by both sides.

Countries in the vicinity of Egypt's role are firmly committed to an independent the establishment Palestinian state. Turkey has emphasized the need for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as well as the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Europe has tended to be fence-sitting except for a few exceptions. They must know money and words cannot buy peace and justice. Political commitment alone will.

Many Palestinian civil society organizations, human rights networks, women’s movement, have also emphasized the need for a comprehensive and sustainable solution to the conflict, including the establishment of a Palestinian state and the right of return for refugees. Israeli civil society organizations are not lagging behind and are demanding the establishment of a commission of inquiry into war crimes committed by both sides.

There must be independent investigations followed by prosecutions. The entire process may take years, but apart from the economic parts, the political dimensions must be implemented because they are rational, logical, and politically moral.

When Palestine joins the community of nations at the UN, and other factors such as those detailed above fall into place, only then is it possible to claim that the Question of Palestine has been answered. There are urgent options for the future that must be followed through to guarantee peace. These are non-negotiable and minimalistic issues.

The first is to settle the status of Jerusalem which according to original UN resolutions according to which the UN voted for the City of Jerusalem to be placed under an International Trusteeship system granting equal status considered Holy by Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

Secondly, there is an imperative to recognize the Right of Return of refugees for those displaced by Nakba 1948 during the Nakba 1948.

Third, there is the question of boundaries. An independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as capital is a pre-set. Clearly, it is the two-state solution that will probably make the cut. It has had the backing of the international community. This must, however, include clearly mutually demarcated borders between both sides.

An even more long-term prospect, if both parties can see it with peaceful co-existence in their mindset, is the option of a one-state solution. This is not an abstract thought. It has gained currency slowly but surely notably among intellectuals, academics, and activists. This would imply a single, binational inclusive state that is secular.

Serious intellectuals like Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian doctor-politician, advocate it. They envisage a democratic state with equal rights for everybody, where there is no discrimination because of religion, nationality or ethnicity, where people have equal opportunities.

In the current context, this idea is something of a pipe dream but when examined with profundity, it will serve both people well, shun a theocracy on both sides, and be a country that will definitely flourish because the combined pool of talents in a unified country will guarantee equitable rights for all citizens, regardless of ethnicity or religion.

Fourth, there must be written-in guarantees and clear agreements on shared natural resources and heritage sites – currently a threat to tensions.

Finally, the illegal settlements must go. Settlers have provided the worst violence against civilian populations. According to International legal opinions, and based on the result of numerous UN resolutions that cite Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, the consensus view of the international community is that Israeli settlements are illegal and constitute a violation of international law.

Much of the violence in the West Bank stems from there. In the first seven months of 2016, Israelis faced an unprecedented wave of violence: not a real “intifada”, but a series of almost daily "lone wolf" knife attacks. These were not by organised militant groups but reflect hopelessness and despair, especially among young Palestinians.

Everything outside the framework of law and that denies our understanding of human sensibility, is abhorrent. But as long as there are illegal settlements, there lie the locale of provocations too.

The path to peace is not impossible. The late Edward Said once stated: “No cause, no god, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents…What is the significance of going through a checkpoint in Palestine? …What took me there was my quest for peace...Could I find it hidden somewhere in the tattered Israel-Palestine relations?”

Ranjan Solomon has been an advocate for a just peace in Palestine since the First Intifada in 1987. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.

Cover Photograph- Zeina , a 19 year old Palestinian student, was abducted by Israeli military forces from Jerusalem without charges or explanation. She has been released now in the first exchange of prisoners.