Palestinians’ resilience, resistance and a ceasefire
JVL Introduction
Gazans are not merely victims despite all they have endured over the past 15 months. They have been combatants and, at a terrible cost, there have been more casualties among Israeli soldiers than we yet know; many Israeli reservists refuse to return to Gaza and the Israeli economy is in trouble. Of course, in each of these cases, the situation is much worse for Palestinians but they still have agency and they are still there.
In November 2024, anticipating the second Trump Presidency David Hearst wrote in Middle East Eye “On 6 October 2023,…the Palestinian cause was all but dead” . Now “the Zionist vision of a” liberal, secular, democratic Jewish state” was over; views once regarded as “fringe of even as terrorists” have become mainstream.
For Palestinians”…all political and non-violent ways of seeking an end to the occupation were blocked…” This left them with two choices: ” to do nothing and die, or to resist and die. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, believe in the latter.”
The war on Gaza had proven unwinnable for Israel which failed because “the population of Gaza proved unbreakable”. Resistance is a given and so is the strong desire to live and rebuild in every sense of the word.
LL
This article was originally published by Gulf News on Tue 21 Jan 2025. Read the original here.
On the long history of Gaza's Sumud: why the war ended
Palestinians in Gaza stood firm, endured immense losses, and emerged resilient
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Does it matter if it was Biden or Trump who stopped the war. Both are responsible for genocide since they armed Israel or supported the arming of this state.
On can’t but admire the resilience of the Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank. Resistance movements to colonial oppressions have prevailed world-wide from Alegeria to Vietnam and one hopes for a similar success for Palestinians.
The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas actions on the 7th October. This is clear. So why take that action? We can only speculate but one thing is certain, before October 7th the Palestine cause was slowly dying, suffocated as it was by Israeli actions over years. Palestine was slowly being forgotten. However, October 7th provoked a response from Israel which woke the world up to the plight of the Palestinian people. In that it succeeded. Israel would have done better to have not responded militarily but to have negotiated the release of the hostages, but it was stupid, it retaliated, and in doing so entangled itself into an assymetric war in which to win it had to completely eliminate Hamas and its proxies (an impossible task because military action would only act as a recruiting tool for opposition); Hamas, on the other hand, had only to survive (which it has – and has recruited more support). The outcome was bloody but from Isarel’s perspective, unwinnable. Now, almost the whole world hates Israel. Without American support I suspect it would collapse. America’s record in such ventures (such as Vietnam, Afghanistan) is not good. They have been defeated. That could be Israel’s fate.
On what basis can anyone claim that the genocide has stopped? That self-serving, death-dealing, hate-filled, fascist grin on Netanyahu’s face is still there.
Quote: The war ended because Gaza withstood it—not because of the kindness of an American president. It is crucial that we emphasize this point repeatedly, rather than seeking inconclusive and irrational answers. A powerful point.
Even if I accept that “The former group, however, ignores the fact that Israeli society was already at a breaking point………….. the outcome of the war was already sealed. Continuing the war would have meant the implosion of Israeli society.”, I am unconvinced that Netanyahu would not have seen his own salvation drive him to reject a ceasefire until circumstances enforced it. And possibility of “the implosion of Israeli society” would not have been sufficient to put his personal freedom at risk. It was the Trump ultimatum ‘wot dun it’, sugared by the covert US go-ahead with continuing the long-term Gazafication of the West Bank, and the killings elsewhere eg Lebanon.
This placated the ultra right in the Knesset who have determined to return to the bombing of Gaza after 42 days. Ceasefire? ….Temporary pause with so many loopholes.