* Gaza Ceasefire Takes Effect, Raising Hopes for Peace

By Shashi P.B.B. Malla

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in Gaza last Friday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced (AP/Associated Press, Oct. 10).

This was hours after Israel’s cabinet approved a deal to pause the fighting and exchange the remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The ceasefire marks a key step towards ending a terrible two-year war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, reduced much of Gaza to rubble, destabilized the Middle East, and left dozens of hostages, living and dead, in the enclave.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel during a musical festival on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, including the Nepalese agricultural student, Bipin Joshi.

The Trump Plan

The broader plan advanced by US President Donald Trump includes many unanswered questions, such as whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza.

Despite those questions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted in a televised statement that the next stages would see Hamas disarm and Gaza delimilitarised.

“If this is achieved the easy way – so be it. If not – it will be achieved the hard way,” Netanyahu claimed.

He added that Hamas agreed to the deal ‘only when it felt that the sword was on its neck – and it is still on its neck.’

He left unsaid that he was goaded into his own action under heavy pressure from Trump.

Israeli Brig. Gen. Efffie Defrin, an Israeli military spokesman said that troops had completed their withdrawal to the deployment lines by the afternoon, a few hours after the ceasefire officially went into effect.

Earlier, an Israeli security official said the military would control around 50% percent of Gaza in their new positions.

After Hamas’s initial attack, Israel retaliated massively.

In Israel’s ensuing total offensive more than 67, 000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded.

Around half the deaths were women and children.

The war has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests Israeli atrocities and led to allegations of genocide that Israel vehemently denies.

How the agreement is expected to unfold

Under the agreement, Israeli troops have withdrawn to new positions in Gaza, and all remaining 48 hostages still in captivity are expected to be released.

Israel believes around 20 of them are still alive.

In exchange, Israel will release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

A list of those prisoners published by Israel did not include high-profile prisoner Marwan Barghouti, the most popular Palestinian leader and potentially unifying figure.

Israel views him and some others as terrorist masterminds who murdered Israeli civilians and has refused to release them in past exchanges.

Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official and lead negotiator, said in a speech that all women and children held in Israeli jails will be freed.

“We declare today that we have reached an agreement to end the war and the aggression against our people,” al-Hayya said (AP).

Finally: Flow of Humanitarian Aid

Five border crossings are expected to re-open, including the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

That will allow aid to flow into the territory which is experiencing widespread famine.

Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief told reporters that officials have 170,000 metric tons of medicine, aid and other supplies on standby for transport into Gaza when they are given the green light.

Security within Gaza

An international force, composed largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside Gaza.

Very strangely, to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal, US officials said they would send about 200 troops to Israel as part of a broader international team.

However, the chain of command is absolutely vague and the US contingent would be too small to make any difference in any peace-keeping and –maintaining operation.

The Reconstruction of Gaza

The US would also lead a massive internationally funded reconstruction effort.

[It is not yet clear whether the US itself will contribute financially].

Trump’s plan also envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority – something Netanyahu has long opposed.

But it does require the Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform programme that could take years.

The 20-Point Trump plan is even more vague about a future Palestinian State, which Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing supporters firmly reject.

Trump & the Nobel Peace Prize

There is no doubt that Trump has brought a temporary ceasefire to Gaza, but it is still not an end of the war, nor is it by any means any sort of peace.

As the foreign affairs correspondent, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times writes in an opinion piece, Trump combines “moral indifference with coercive diplomacy in the name of peace” (Oct, 11-12).

This may work in the external sphere, but sure does not in the domestic arena.

How could the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee ignore Trump’s dismal domestic record and his wholesale undermining of American democracy? As the saying goes: charity begins at home.

But Trump has only succeeded in making America very fractured.

He indicts his political foes on the flimsiest of charges and boasts: “I hate my opponent” (NYT).

As US President, he should set a positive example and rise above all his personal grievances.

Trump’s breakthrough now in Gaza, raises the questions of why he waited so long to put pressure on Netanyahu and put an end to the misery of the Palestinians in Gaza.

As the most powerful leader of the so-called free world why did he ignore the apparent genocide and famine day in and day out in Gaza?

And as a transactional leader, why is he incapable of putting the same pressure on Vladimir Putin of Russia to put and to an end to an unjust war and the daily torment of the Ukrainians?

This is because Trump’s foreign policy – as well as his domestic policies – lack the ethical dimension. And he is not motivated by compassion, but by personal ego and personal glory.

And this is why, the opposition leader of Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, and not Trump this year, or the next – or ever.

The writer can be reached at:

Shashimalla125@gmail.com