Worldcrunch
The Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has gone into effect and the complex prisoner exchange has started. Yet the road is still too long before it is possible to discuss who is the victor and who is the vanquished. Many factors — in Gaza, Israel and in the new Trump White House — could still revive the conflict.
Al-Sharaa has surprised many with his openness to dialogue after a past linked to al-Qaeda. He represents a complex model that embodies the transformation of Syria since the beginning of the revolution in 2011.
Whether it is Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, aggressive bullying or hypocritical well wishes, the actual decisions of U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East always follow the same cynical script.
The Arab front in favor of the Palestinian people is more feeble and ambiguous than ever, even as the people of Gaza are being killed by the thousands. Multiple factors explain this weakness, from fears of a repeat of the 2011 uprisings inside their own countries to longstanding competition with Iran.
If there is a real peace project and an Israeli intention to solve the Palestinian tragedy, Hamas would have lost its justification for existence. Not just Hamas, but all the resistance factions.
The concept of “resistance” adopted by militants in the Middle East has a close relationship with oppression and “divine victory,” which Hamas and Hezbollah both embrace in a false interpretation of the Koran, despite the heavy human and material losses inflicted.
Israel is like a huge elephant in a room of fragile ceramic pieces. It may be able to get out, but Israel will certainly not emerge from its war in Gaza completely unscathed.
The context and scale are different, but there are common methods in the suppression of demonstrations in the Arab Spring in 2011 and crackdowns against pro-Palestinian groups on university campuses in the U.S. Will President Biden, like Hosni Mubarak 13 years ago, lose power as a result?
Israel’s colonial-settler project aims to kill this protective, familiar, and memory-preserving space called “home” in the Occupied Territories. This Palestinian heartbreak is documented for all to see, and ultimately, and paradoxically, squashes any attempt to dehumanize a people.
The Israeli prime minister appears dead set against a ceasefire, with the leak of a new 10-year plan for “occupation from afar” for Gaza. All of this to avoid the fate that awaits him if he leaves office.