WeeklySA_AdminHUMANITY: Setback for Israel-Hamas peace talks as bid to silence guns flop
By Jo-Mangaliso Mdhlela
Who is my neighbour?
That question has to be asked, even after the outgoing United States President Joe Biden has this week announced a ceasefire and hostage deal brokered to allow Israel and Hamas to smoke a peace pipe – and to exchange hostages.
“I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas,” said Biden this week.
The question to be asked, though, is, of what worth is such a peace deal, if the Israeli warmongers continue with their bombardment, and deadly escapades, even as peace is touted?
“Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal.
This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” said Biden.
Of what intrinsic value does Biden’s words have when the Israeli soldiers continue to bombard the area?
The latest reports emanating from Gaza Strip enclave, civil defence entity this week suggested that at least 113 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces – a figure that includes at least 28 children and more than 30 women.
As Biden announced the deal that the hostages would return home, news of bombardment simultaneously spread across the world that the announced ceasefire was actually a farce, because the bombardment of Gaza Strip by the Israeli soldiers continued unabated, with the soldiers hunting down Hamas as viciously as had been the case in the past.
What is the point? Does Biden want to save his skin, and clean up his politically tarnished image by announcing ceasefire on the eve of his departure from office, as former president Donald Trump makes “the second coming”.
Biden has all along, during his tenure as the US president, unashamedly been on the side of Israel, sending heavy artillery to strengthen the hand of blood-thirsty Israeli army, to vanquish not only Hamas, but also egg on the Israeli Army to militarily humiliate the Palestinian people.
Viewed against the background of massive destruction of property and life, the fact that “the deal had been reached after 15 months of suffering, to be “followed by a surge of humanitarian aid in Gaza”, should be of little comfort to the Palestinians who have been at the receiving end of Israel’s aggression for many years.
The enduring question asked by the concerned world as the Israeli Army, at the instigation of its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, continues on his hawkish ways to seek to annihilate what he regards as his “enemy camp”.
“I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas,” said Biden at the White House. The deal has been reached after 15 months of suffering, he said, and would be followed by a surge of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“Fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages will return home to their families,” said Biden.
Is Biden so naïve to think any ceasefire is possible when fundamental issues of dispossession dating back to the last century persist?
According to sources, “major areas of concern that exacerbate conflict borders on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security, water rights, the permit regime, Palestinian freedom of movement, and the Palestinian right of return”.
The colonisation of Palestine to create a Jewish state is at the core of the conflict, bolstered by imperial sentiments heightened by the 1917 Balfour Declaration engineered by Britain – to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Only the servile Western lackeys of the United States, including some Western countries, will be impressed by the shortsightedness of Biden in believing in his words of ceasefire.
He said: “Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal.
“The long-sought deal emerged at the end of an intense 96 hours of negotiations in Doha brokered by US, Egyptian and Qatari diplomats who persuaded Israel and Hamas finally to conclude the agreement.”
Is this Biden and US pipedream?
Palestinian is fighting for the return of the land, and will not relent until they enjoy territorial control over their historic land.
As we seek a rational explanation to understanding the true, and even cogent reasons for the protracted human slaughter orchestrated and fomented by the US and Israel, the murkier the waters surrounding full reconciliation become – for no reconciliation is possible when the other of the partners to the conflict is not restored by enjoying self-determination in a land dispossessed through conquest and sleight of hand by imperial forces.
By end of 2024, the Biden administration had spent $17.9 or approximately R336-billion arming Israel to destabilise the Hamas-led administration.
The Stars and Stripes country, by proxy, has become an instrument of atrocious war of destruction of human life, especially of babies, perpetrated by Israeli soldiers against a weaker and vulnerable neighbour.
There is also a theological question with imperative words found in the Hebrew Scriptures, pondered over by the author, Susan Niditch, and inscribed in her book, War in the Hebrew Bible: A study in the Ethics of Violence.
The questions she poses are in search of elusive answers, shrouded, or even obscured, by political propagandist language seeking to exonerate the Israeli soldiers from blameworthiness in a cruel conflict that has exterminated and dismembered and disenfranchised the communities who occupied the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank.
What might motivate Netanyahu to justify such barbaric and heartless slaughter of innocent children by his ruthless army?
This is hard to fathom, and is causing a lot of pain if in his slaughter and madness he is not sanctioned by countries who value justice and equity.
Charles Reed, the writer of the book, Just War? states that the just war tradition demands of protagonists a basic respect and appreciation for the sanctity of life, and the recognition that acts of war should never reach a stage where they dehumanise either those who are engage in it or those who might be caught in its wake -calling to mind that “enemies” whether ideological or political should “never stop being human”.
So, we can ask: How just is the hegemonic war in which those who are powerful such as the United States gang up with the oppressors such as the State of Israel to help dispossess the weak of their historic land?
Soldiers, such as those taking commands from their commander-in-chief, Netanyahu, and engaging in wars of taking lives of children, women, and communities, are described in these terms by Francisco de Vitoria: “Soldiers have not only a right but an obligation to refuse to fight in a war they consider unjust or a war leading to the intentional killing of innocent civilians.”
The converse is also true, argues Vitoria: “In some circumstances the foreseen killing of innocents, as in a siege, is legitimate and necessary if it leads to justice and the restoration of peace. This concession rests on the basis that states must ensure that greater evil does not arise through permitting actions which would be averted by the war.”
Prime ministers and presidents or leaders of nations ought to act as rational human beings, capable to making rational and humane decisions, especially when it relates to international rules of war which demand the absolute protection of human life, especially when they are non-combatants in a war situation.
As both Israel and Hamas release hostages from Monday, the one consideration both the United States and Israel must not be allowed to do is to pervert justice.
• Mdhlela is independent journalist and a human and social rights activist
Comment
RURAL LEARNERS’ PLEA FOR HELP
While we laud South Africa’s matric class of 2024 for achieving the record-breaking matric pass rate since the dawn of democracy in 1994, reviving hopes of the country nurturing future educated leaders, a thought must be spared for those learners in impoverished rural areas who still attended classes under appalling conditions.
By excelling to achieve the 87,3 percent pass rate, last year’s matric learners have shown that even in the midst of poverty, mass unemployment and other socio-economic woes, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Our educators must be commended for their commitment and passion in guiding these children to produce these impressive results.
Our hearts however should be with those learners in rural areas who still attended classes under trees even in rainy and cold seasons. Children who attend classes in dilapidated buildings where there are no desks and blackboards. Children who walk long distances to and from school, some barefoot and hungry. Desperate children from poverty-stricken homes. Teachers who strive under difficult conditions to educate these children. Teachers, some without chairs and desks, who are committed to the profession. Educators who are determined to teach and learners who are intent on getting educated at all cost. Teachers and learners in hopeless situations with their daily pleas for help – since the dawn of democracy – having fallen on deaf ears.
These teachers and learners are also South African citizens who deserve better educational facilities like those in the cities. Their suffering – from the days of apartheid until the ushering of democracy – continues unabated and with no sign of help in sight. Some of the matric learners in those areas have done extremely well under these circumstances . We shudder to think how many more would have excelled if they had better educational facilities.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ministry of education have congratulated the matric class of 2024 for their excellent results. We however, call on the government to spare a thought for these impoverished communities and to set aside a reasonable budget to help in providing them with proper buildings, furniture and transport to and from school. It is time for the authorities to listen to their pleas for help and to respond positively.
While we hail those matric learners who had passed, we also call on those who failed not to give up because failure is not a disgrace – it is the beginning of embracing challenges and winning. Failure is a temporary setback which will be made permanent if they gave up. They should find solace in the fact that even some of the greatest and most educated world icons, had failed before they succeeded in life. Last year’s results have been hailed as the best so far since 1994, but there is still a long way to go to instill discipline especially at some of our public schools where some learners smoked drugs in public.
Learners must be reminded that education is the best investment and good manners maketh better future leaders.
