US President Donald Trump’s Middle East ceasefire deal may have stopped Israel’s war on Gaza in its tracks, but few expect a lasting and just peace in the region. Israeli forces have withdrawn to a line inside the borders of the enclave, ready to advance should Hamas not follow through on its tentative agreement to disarm and recuse itself from any role in the future governance of Gaza.
For its part, Hamas has shown little inclination to disarm, until a Palestinian state becomes an irreversible reality.
Trump is to be congratulated for ending the war that at the latest count had claimed the lives of 67,913 Palestinians and 1,983 Israelis, with thousands more buried under the mountains of rubble created by a two-year bombardment that shocked the world.
Where Israel in the past could count on the unconditional support of the Jewish diaspora and Western countries, its conduct of the war has alienated many. This has been especially so since Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu resumed the war in January and ordered an aid blockade that resulted in widespread starvation.
In the absence of functioning world bodies such as the UN, and given the moral vacuum created by Trump’s presidency, South Africa’s approach in following its duty to report abuses of human rights has been shown to be the correct one
With each devastating attack, Israel’s support base has been eroded, with countries in the West, including erstwhile allies such as the UK and France, recognising the state of Palestine. Notably, Trump’s ceasefire does not compel Israel to, and Netanyahu has been clear that he won’t do so. Israel finds itself isolated in a world that shrugs off Israeli claims that its opponents are antisemitic radicals.
Trump, in a recognition of the shifting nature of global wealth and influence, was able to marshal Muslim countries such as Indonesia to act in concert to end the war. Authoritarian Arab states such as Qatar and Egypt also exerted pressure on Hamas to agree to the terms of ceasefire that may have been unthinkable a few months ago.
Not that the Palestinians and their future was of much concern to Trump and his Israeli hosts at the triumphal, self-congratulatory session held in the Knesset. And later, at a signing ceremony in Egypt, Palestinian hopes and aspirations were similarly largely ignored by Arab leaders who fear Islamic fundamentalism, and who view Hamas as a proxy for their arch-enemy, Iran.
Palestinians have had to look further afield, to distant South Africa for solidarity. President Cyril Ramaphosa was adamant this week our country would not retract its “genocide” case against Israel, launched at the International Court of Justice in 2024. Criticised for supposedly supporting Hamas and its backer Iran, South Africa has arguably shown the way for the rest of the world.
In the absence of functioning world bodies such as the UN, and given the moral vacuum created by Trump’s presidency, South Africa’s approach in following its duty to report abuses of human rights has been shown to be the correct one. Granted, our country has paid a high price for its stance, with the Trump administration turning up the heat in the form of punitive tariffs, amid the ludicrous claim of a “white genocide” taking place here.
Reasonable, justice-loving people everywhere will be hoping the ceasefire mutates into something approaching justice for the Palestinians, whose cries for help have largely been ignored in a world that for too long has unconditionally accepted the narrative that serves the government of Israel and its bellicose prime minister.
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