Questions remain over motivations to implement Gaza ceasefire deal
Wadie Said, a professor at the University of Colorado in the US, says with Israel previously breaking a ceasefire deal and Trump pushing to win a Nobel Peace Prize, the motivations behind securing the deal are not due to the “mass slaughter of Palestinians”.
“Trump has mentioned time and again in the last week or so that he is concerned about Israel’s standing in the world,” Said told Al Jazeera.
“So if these are the motivations, I think we have to ask how strong of a basis is this for this agreement to actually be implemented in the future,” he added.
But Said expressed caution and said that all of the conditions that existed before October 7, 2023, including Israel’s control over Gaza’s border crossing, will “remain in effect”.
“Although, I do have to say on a personal level, I think I’m not alone in this view that many of us are happy that at least the slaughter and the violence will end,” Said said.
Focus must now be on Israeli compliance with ceasefire deal: Analyst
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director of Israel-Palestine at US-based rights group Dawn, said the ceasefire should be welcomed, but such an agreement could have been reached at any time over the past two years.
“Without being cynical at all, we have to welcome this moment. An end to the killing and starvation and the mental and physical torture of the people in Gaza. But, this could have been done at any point over the past 23 and a half months,” Omer-Man said.
“Hamas has been offering all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war almost since the beginning. And President Biden had the exact same leverage that President Trump has today,” he said.
Omer-Man said concern has to be now on whether Israel will comply with the terms of the ceasefire.
“Israel has deliberately, openly and brazenly broken every ceasefire that was achieved up until this point,” he said.
“Ensuring that they comply by the terms, that they don’t go back to the fighting and reimpose the siege – that they actually allow not only aid but commercial goods and people to flow across the border – is going to be something that I think we are not quite there yet,” he said.
Political cost of continuing US support for Israel ‘quite high’
It is “absolutely critical” the US ensures the ceasefire plan goes all the way through from point one to 20, says Stephen Zunes, chair of the Middle Eastern studies programme at the University of San Francisco.
“It was the failure of the United States to object when Netanyahu broke off the January ceasefire agreement two months later and resumed the assault without going to the second and third phases of that agreement,” Zunes told Al Jazeera, speaking from Philadelphia.
“So, this has been a long time coming, and I think we have to credit everyone from Qatar, UAE, the Saudis, other Gulf states who are making clear that, hey, we’ve pressed Hamas to compromise, you need to press Israel to compromise as well,” he said.
Meanwhile, the political cost for the US for continuing to support Israel is “quite high”, Zunes said.
“This really hurts America’s standing because […] their power is not just in terms of how many planes or tanks or guns they have, it’s their reputation. It’s a soft power … and by giving Israel a blank cheque all these months, it’s just really hurt the standing of the United States,” he said.
“Clearly, Washington has to hand over at least some degree of authority to reputable Palestinian sources soon, otherwise, it’s going to appear like yet another imperialist adventure,” Zunes added.
