A ceasefire deal has been agreed

[gloriagloria]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3rwqpj70ert

I really hope this is the beginning of peace and prosperity for both sides.

Thank you for explaining this so well.

Palestine is a country recognised by 146 out of the 196 countries in the UN. It’s occupied by Israel but it’s def a country for many of us and where Palestinians live.

Umm, but that is a UNGA resolution which recommends to the UNSC they be granted sovreignity as a country. To date, the UNSC permanent member the USA has vetoed this and every other resolution allowing a Palestinian country. Meaning the UN hasn’t officially recognised them as a country. The US rationale is that the creation of a Palestinian state must be the outcome of a negotiated process with Israel.

I agree Palestine should be a country, but factually it is not. You can’t be a country without sovreignity over your own territory.

A good overview of how the ceasefire suddenly came about and what the US really wants.
Some pretty good analysis, though I don't agree with some of what Michael Walker is suggesting here.

Blinken's speech yesterday is very interesting.

Hamas is the elected 'government' of Gaza since the last election held in 2006.

Who made it?

That doesn't make them the government of Palestine. Nothing I said was incorrect. Using Palestine as suggested by that poster in the same way I used Israel would make no sense.

Palestine was a country long before Israel! There are indigenous Palestinians older than the state of Israel. They are occupying Palestinian land, illegally. Maybe need to re check history books again. 🤔

Hamas don't govern the West Bank or East Jerusalem, which form part of the Palestinian state recognised by the 146 UN member states.

Yes it doesn't make sense in that context as the PA rules over the occupied west bank.

Perhaps you need to check the Bible before making ridiculous pronouncements like this 😂

When did Palestine become a country?

It's just splitting hairs now, it's obvious you were not blaming every single Israeli but using the same language to frame the war that even the Israeli government does.

The state of Israel came about in 1948, before this it was known as Palestine. You can't change history to suit what you believe was in the bible/torah/quran!

You mean Bush's War on Terror?

Why was it known as Palestine? Who called it that and why?

@Oodiks not going to go round in circles with you. You know it and you are playing games. The land was taken from the indigenous Palestinians and given by the British to Jewish settlers fleeing the war. Since then there has been land grabs and illegal occupation. We all know it and ICJ has ruled it.

In a speech by Blinken yesterday, he basically spelt out how Hamas couldn't be defeated without implementing a whole raft of measures that basically took away a lot of Palestinian grievances.

In a statement that must have embarrassed Israel, he stated that there are as many Hamas fighters today as there were 15 months ago.

It was a clear turnaround of US thinking, or at least public expression of that thinking. It was actually quite heartening to hear him talk about Palestinian governance and international investment in Gaza's infrastructure.

It also goes to show how the US could have stopped this at any time, had it so wanted. But that's another story.

So it does look like the US will push against Israel and will press for greater Palestinian rights, if Blinken is to be as good as his word.

I think when they finally let the world see what has been happening in Gaza some posters may find they don’t feel the same way about what has been happening. I suspect the world will find it harder and harder to accept or justify on any level at all. I hope there will be an outpouring of support for the survivors of the slaughter and every individual involved is held accountable for their part in this.

No. It would be great if you would stop trying to language police me now. It feels very pointless and tedious. If I say something I don't mean I will go back and correct it myself, thanks.

How is a ceasefire deal agreed and what laws/policies/agreements do they agree to or not.
They aren't concerned enough by ethics and they aren't seen to be rational so I'm trying to think about the incentives that might drive them to stopping the war.

i hope international and independent journalists and organisations are allowed to go into Gaza soon. Maybe then the world will accept what locals and local journalists have been saying for year and a half

I am glad the ceasefire and the release of Israelis hostages is happening. The attack in October was unprovoked and should never have happened.

I really hope as part of the next phase of negotiations are discussions on the next steps of Palestine governance - a terrorist organisation should never be in charge of a “country”, there needs to be some kind of independent oversight of the supposedly democratic process that elects these terrorists into power.

Where do you get your news from? Fro many Jews and Christian’s this land was held before any Muslim was even born

It would be great to get some independent witnesses in to assess the situation. I would imagine that it will take many years for the full scale of what has happened to be uncovered. For instance I remember seeing a video ages ago of the IDF shooting 2 men then just burying their bodies under sand and moving on. How many people have been treated this way? How long will it take to uncover all of the bodies from who knows where. Finding the cause of death of so many people after such a long time will surely be a huge effort. Taking testimonies from the tens of thousands of victims/witnesses would also be a huge undertaking. That said the sooner the start the sooner a picture of what really happened can be built.