What does outgoing US President Joe Biden mean when he says Palestinians “can return to their neighbourhoods” when the ceasefire takes effect on January 19? Picture: Mike Segar/Reuters
THIS week, outgoing US President Joe Biden took to the stage, telling the world about a breakthrough in the elusive truce between Israel and the resistance Palestinian movement, Hamas.
Biden has been desperately itching for a deal—any deal, it seems as he stands at the exit door of the White House—just so that history might look kindly on some of his abominable foreign policy antics.
The Biden administration has all been dead-alive since their Democratic Party was trounced ruthlessly by Donald Trump’s Republican Party in the November polls.
As the US President-elect Trump prepares for his much-anticipated inauguration on January 20, lame duck Biden & Co will be trembling with trepidation at the certain dismantling of their foreign policy gimmicks.
Halting astronomical funding to Ukraine is certain to top the agenda in Trump’s foreign policy objectives premised on the mantra “Make America Great Again”. His expressed desire, too, to hold talks with his much-maligned Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, is another hot item on the menu of the incoming Trump administration.
This week’s widely embraced announcement of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas would have been a feather on President Biden’s cap had he exhibited an iota of honesty, objectivity and empathy for the more than 46 000 Palestinians—including 18 000 children—mowed down in Israel’s genocidal operation in Gaza.
South Africa and most of the international community, particularly across the Global South, have written their names in the annals of history with great honour to the service of humanity for standing on the side of the weak against the powerful, going to commendable lengths drawing the attention of the entire world to Israel’s sheer, unadulterated cruelty against Palestinians.
Numerous times before, the universe has paused with great anticipation at the news of a truce between Israel and Hamas. But, lo and behold, every time negotiations led by Qatar and Egypt appeared promising, the US-backed Israeli Defence Force would unleash Washington-issued weapons to assassinate Hamas leaders they ought to be negotiating with.
The slain Hamas leaders eliminated despite being the public faces leading negotiations with Israel include top leaders such as Ismail Haniyeh, Marwan Issa, Fatah Sharif, and Yahya Sinwar, among others.
This strategy of the Jewish state has triggered more confusion than rationality in international relations. On the one hand, Israel has proven it could talk peace to lull Hamas into slumber and murder and maim Palestinian men, women, and children thus far with incredible impunity.
In fact, when it comes to Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to kill anything that moves, including animals and insects, with the same venom meted out to suspected Hamas operatives.
If lame duck Biden still commanded any semblance of credibility in the Israel-Hamas conflict; his news conference about the announcement of a ceasefire would, and should, have triggered unrestrained jubilation. Instead, it triggered cautious optimism.
According to Biden, the latest round of the peace deal will be rolled out in three stages. In the first phase, it will last up to six weeks during which Israel will negotiate a long-term cessation of hostilities.
If no desired long-term deal is achieved at the end of six weeks, “the ceasefire will still continue”, we are told.
Of course, news of a pause, no matter how long, is music to the ears of every Palestinian and peace-loving person the world over. Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel took place, all Palestinians, especially those who live in the democratically Hamas-governed Gaza Strip, have had their lives turned into a living hell.
Deceitful President Biden’s remarks caught my attention when he elaborated on the ceasefire terms: “The Palestinians can also return to their neighbourhoods in all areas of Gaza. And the surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza will begin. And the innocent people can have greater access to the vital supplies.”
As politics ejects him from the White House, Biden wants to build a false legacy as the man who stopped the war on Gaza and saved lives. But nothing can be further from the truth.
For thanks to the technological development at the heart of modernity, the revolution—nay, genocide—is being televised. The advent of social media has brought about the global compression of time and space. Geographical distance and Westphalian borders matter no more.
The mainstream media has lost their traditional monopoly on news coverage and analysis. The sight of helpless Palestinians of all ages being pulled out of the rubble of bombed-out buildings has become a regular feature on our mobile phones.
We hear and see the truth in its rawest form, uncensored by the powerful news outlets in order to manipulate, especially the weak and vulnerable. What does Biden mean when he says Palestinians “can return to their neighbourhoods” when the ceasefire takes effect on January 19?
Does the old man know that the bombs he has signed off on for use against the Palestinians have razed the majority of buildings to the ground? Neighbourhoods where once upon a time children were raised in close-knit families have come to resemble dumping sites, with heaps of rubble and hundreds of trapped corpses languishing underneath.
The Israeli genocide against Gazans is a singular, most persuasive indictment of Biden’s unsavoury foreign policy over the last four years, yearning to dominate the world through Nato. Leave Ukraine aside for now. That’s a story for another day.
Phase two of the ceasefire reads as follows: “An exchange will be made for the release of the remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and all the remaining lsraeli forces will withdraw from Gaza, with a temporary ceasefire becoming permanent.”
Well, from the outset, Washington’s sole interest has been in the plight of Israeli hostages and their welfare. In stark contrast, the welfare of the masses of innocent Palestinians has been of secondary concern.
No wonder this week, a group of Palestinian journalists—visibly emotionally-drained and with teary eyes, made an impassioned plea to the self-appointed gods of journalism in the Global North, appealing for empathy and support.
Since October 7, more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed, an unprecedented mortality rate in any conflict in contemporary history.
In a dramatic illustration of how painful it is to be treated as a second-class human being, the Palestinian journalists said, “maybe if our eyes were blue”, our situation would be different.
When lives are regarded and treated as devoid of equality, words fail even the most consummate professional wordsmiths, such as the Palestinian media practitioners, who know too well that their sin, like Africans during slavery and apartheid in South Africa, was the colour of their skin.
The third phase of the ceasefire would be marked by returning the remains of the “murdered hostages” to their families. And finally, “a large-scale post-war reconstruction” would only then commence in Gaza.
The UN says “billions, not millions, of dollars” will be required to rebuild the once vibrant Gaza Strip, home to over 2 million people who reject Israel’s illegal occupation of their land.
The apartheid-Israel discrimination and oppression of the Palestinians, the unbridled denial of their basic human rights, and constant detention without trial, among other atrocities, are some of the worst forms of colonial excesses in modern history.
As the world waits with bated breath to see if the ceasefire holds, the Israeli Knesset is embroiled in a fierce debate over whether to accept the terms of the ceasefire. The predominant rightwing Jewish parliamentarians believe that the deal in its current form does not favour Israel.
They want to carry on one more time with the bombardment of whatever little is left of Gaza, knowing too well that President Trump will arm the IDF to the teeth and make Biden look like a saint. It’s time to buckle up, my dear people. The road ahead looks rather bumpy.
Like South Africans, spare a thought for Palestinians. Above all, do something that could alleviate their plight. Let them know that, like South Africa, the majority of the world will never forsake them. Finally, like African-Americans at the height of slavery, let them Palestinians sing: “We shall overcome.”
* Abbey Makoe is the founder and editor-in-chief of Global South Media Network.
** The views expressed here do not necessarily reflectthos of Independent Media.