Four words that bear significance to the happy news of a Gaza ceasefire

I have wrestled with what to say in this urgent moment, long yearned for and that often appeared beyond reach during these last 15 hideous months.

One of the questions that I grappled with was this: What could I possibly share with readers that would even remotely capture the meaning and profundity of an apparent agreement to stop the wholesale massacre of Palestinians?

I had not suffered. My home is intact. My family and I are alive and well. We are warm, together and safe.

So, the other pressing dilemma I confronted was: Is it my place to write at all? This space should be reserved, I thought, for Palestinians to reflect on the horrors they have endured and what is to come.

Their voices will, of course, be heard here and elsewhere in the days and weeks ahead. My voice, in this context, is insignificant and, under these grievous circumstances, borders on being irrelevant.

Still, if you and, in particular, Palestinians will oblige me, this is what I have to say.

I think that there are four words that each, in their own way, bear some significance to Wednesday’s happy news that the guns are poised to go silent.

The first and perhaps most fitting word is “relief”.

There will be ample time and opportunity for the “experts” to draw up their predictable scorecards of the “winners” and “losers” and the broader short- and long-term strategic implications of Wednesday’s deal.

There will, as well, be ample time and opportunity for more “experts” to consider the political consequences of Wednesday’s deal in the Middle East, Europe and Washington, DC.

My preoccupation, and I suspect the preoccupation of most Palestinians and their loved ones in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, is that peace has arrived finally.

How long it will last is a question best posed tomorrow. Today, let us all revel in the relief that is a dividend of peace.

Palestinian boys and girls are dancing with relief. After months of grief, loss and sadness, joy has returned. Smiles have returned. Hope has returned.

Let us enjoy a satisfying measure of relief, if not pleasure, in that.

There is relief in Israel, too.

The families of the surviving captives will soon be reunited with the brothers and sisters, daughters and sons, mothers and fathers, they have longed to embrace again.

They will, no doubt, require care and attention to heal the wounds to their minds, souls and bodies.

That will be another, most welcomed, dividend of peace.

The next word is “gratitude”.

Those of us who, day after dreadful day, have watched – bereft and helpless as a ruthless apartheid state has gone methodically about reducing Gaza to dust and memory – owe our deepest gratitude to the brave, determined helpers who have done their best to ease the pain and suffering of besieged Palestinians.

We owe our everlasting gratitude to the countless anonymous people, in countless places throughout Gaza and the West Bank, who, at grave risk and at the expense of so many young, promising lives, put the welfare of their Palestinian brothers and sisters ahead of their own.

We must be grateful for their selflessness and courage. They did their duty. They walked into the danger. They did not retreat. They stood firm. They held their ground. They rebuffed the purveyors of death and destruction who tried to erase their pride and dignity.

They reminded the world that humanity will prevail despite the occupier’s efforts to crush it.

The third word is “acknowledge”.

The world must acknowledge the steadfast resistance of Palestinians.

The occupier’s aim was to break the will and spirit of Palestinians. That has been the occupier’s intent for the past 75 years.

Once again, the occupier has failed.

Palestinians are indefatigable. They are, like their brethren in Ireland and South Africa, immovable.

They refuse to be routed from their land because they are wedded to it by faith and history. Their roots are too deep and indestructible.

Palestinians will decide their fate – not the marauding armies headed by racists and war criminals who cling to the antiquated notion that might is right.

It will take a little more time and patience, but the sovereignty and salvation that Palestinians have earned in blood and heartache is, I am convinced, approaching not far over the horizon.

The final word is “shame”.

There are politicians and governments who will forever wear the shame of permitting Israel to commit genocide against the people of Palestine.

These politicians and governments will deny it. The evidence of their crimes is plain. We can see it in the images of the apocalyptic landscape of Gaza. We will record every name of the more than 46,000 Palestinian victims of their complicity.

That will be their decrepit legacy.

Rather than stop the mass murder of innocents, they enabled it. Rather than prevent starvation and disease from claiming the lives of babies and children, they encouraged it. Rather than turn off the spigot of arms, they delivered them. Rather than shout “enough”, they spurred the killing to go on and on.

We will remember. We will not let them forget.

That is our responsibility: to make sure that they never escape the shame that will follow each and every one of them like a long, disfiguring shadow in the late-day sun.

Shame on them. Shame on them all.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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