January 17, 2025
JAKARTA – While we are elated by the news of a truce on Wednesday between Israel and Hamas in their war in the Gaza Strip, we know this is not the first declaration of a ceasefire since their war began in October 2023. This time, however, there is hope that it will last longer and that it can even lead to both sides ending the 15-month war.
The United States holds the key to a longer truce and eventual peace. The question is whether it has the will to rein in Israel’s warmongering leader Benjamin Netanyahu. This deal, brokered by Qatar and involving the US, has the support of the current administration of President Joe Biden and incoming president Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday.
Biden has allowed Netanyahu to get away with his murderous ways, the death toll in Gaza has reached over 47,000, many of them children and women, and unnecessarily prolonged the war and the suffering.
Trump appears better and more willing to put pressure on Netanyahu. Let us hope he will use the trump card, for peace’s sake.
We are already seeing signs of the belligerent Netanyahu trying to botch the deal. He has not commented on the news and said he would only speak once all the details of the agreement have been worked out. We have heard this before. The devil is not so much in the details as it is in Netanyahu.
Palestinians and Israelis deserve to have peace and be able to get on with their lives. The world, through the United Nations, must ensure that this ceasefire will hold to allow both sides to negotiate an end to the war once and for all.