Could Israel’s Netanyahu be about to agree to a Gaza ceasefire?

14/12/2024

Indications that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be ready to agree to end the assault on Gaza that has killed 44,800 people – with thousands more lost under the rubble and presumed dead – could raise hopes of an end to the war.

After meeting with Netanyahu this week, United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said he “got the sense” Netanyahu was “ready to do a deal”. Until now, Netanyahu has been seen as blocking any chances of a ceasefire.

In September, Netanyahu’s 11th-hour objections sank a ceasefire deal that was reportedly near being signed. Documents he used to justify his decision to continue bombing Gaza were later found by Israeli authorities to have been forged.

Since then, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for both men for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023.

On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressing support for the work of UNRWA (UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees), which Israel banned from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territory.

Rumours that a ceasefire agreement may be close are near-constant among those trapped in the enclave, desperate for an end to the bombardment.

“In the last week, there have been two, maybe three occasions where the community around us erupted in cheers and whistling and applause because of rumours that there has been an agreed ceasefire,” Louise Waterbridge, senior emergency officer at the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera.

The north of Gaza remains under total Israeli siege, with 65,000 to 75,000 Palestinians trapped behind the siege lines, the UN estimates, as the Israeli military has prevented aid from reaching them. Israeli forces have essentially cut off the northern part of Gaza from the south.

Aid organisations have long warned of famine in Gaza, and many believe that it has already taken hold in north Gaza.

Is Netanyahu bending to international pressure?

It’s unlikely.

Israel increasingly sees itself as “defiant” of the international community as it continues to launch attacks on Syria, effectively annexed areas of southern Lebanon and additional areas of the occupied Golan Heights in Syria.

Just before the UNGA vote this week, Israel dismissed UN objections to its invasion of Syrian territory, saying its actions are necessary to “secure” its borders from the buffer zone that has been there, policed by the UN, since 1974.

It also called on Israel to make reparations to Palestinians for damages incurred by the occupation.

The UNGA, whose mission includes promoting “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”, includes every sovereign country in the world, so Wednesday’s vote underscores the depth of the international opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The resolution backed an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s top court – which found that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.The court ruled in July that Israel is abusing its status as an occupying power, stressing that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal.The UNGA vote comes amid Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,250 Palestinians. The ICJ has issued rulings ordering Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza and allow adequate humanitarian aid into the territory.

The United States, which claims to pursue a two-state solution to the conflict, joined Israel in opposing the UNGA resolution on Wednesday – as did Czechia, Hungary, Argentina and several small Pacific island states.

The resolution was submitted by Palestine – a permanent observer state at the UN.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the resolution and urged countries across the world to take steps to pressure Israel to adhere to it.

“The international consensus over this resolution renews the hopes of our Palestinian people – who are facing a comprehensive aggression and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem – to achieve its aspirations of freedom and independence and establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas said.

Origins of the occupation

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and subsequently annexed the entire holy city in 1980.

International law prohibits the acquisition of land by force.

Israel has also been building settlements – now home to hundreds of thousands of Israelis – in the West Bank in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bans the occupying power from transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

Most of the international community considers the occupation illegal.

But the US argues that Palestinians and Israelis should negotiate a resolution to the issues without external pressure – a standard that Washington does not apply to other conflicts, including the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine.

Several US allies – including France, Finland and Mexico – voted in favour of Wednesday’s resolution. The United Kingdom, Ukraine and Canada abstained.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, an advocacy group, slammed the abstention as “a cowardly refusal to stand up for international law and Palestinian freedom”.

“All states are obliged to help bring an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories as soon as possible, but Canada just abstained,” the group said in a social media post.

14/12/2024

Is Netanyahu bending to international pressure?

Origins of the occupation

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