A CEASEFIRE in Gaza has finally come about — in spite of the continued Israeli shelling after the announcement, the nail-biting vote in the Israeli Cabinet, and the 11th-hour “technical reasons” that, Hamas said, were holding up the release of hostages on Sunday morning. It is impossible not to be moved by the pictures that swiftly emerged. Three Israeli women held in Gaza for 471 days were reunited with their families. Palestinians held without charge by the Israelis were released and returned home. Aid trucks at last made their way into Gaza. Equally moving were the sobering pictures of bewildered Gazans returning to find their homes reduced to unrecognisable piles of rubble. Rebuilding will be a monumental task.
We can only rejoice that the beleaguered people who are living through this war are experiencing some relief from the hell of the past 15 months. Yet it is obvious that, even if it holds, this is a temporary respite. Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the offensive in Gaza until Hamas has been annihilated. And the Hamas soldiers escorting the Israeli hostages to safety on Sunday appeared to be signalling their determination to fight on. It is not at all clear how the six-week ceasefire can be made into a lasting peace. The deal was choreographed by Donald Trump to coincide with his inauguration, as Paul Vallely writes, but there seems to be no agreed strategy for the next stage. Trump was, characteristically, more concerned about the optics of the moment. What he most wanted, he said, apparently without irony, was to be “a peacemaker and a unifier”, putting an end to all wars everywhere and inspiring “the awe and admiration of the entire world” in the process.
Trump’s hyperbole is by now so habitual that it is unsurprising. But the language used in such a fragile situation matters, particularly when religion is invoked to defend a political stance. The Palestinian pastor the Revd Dr Munther Isaac, who is based in the West Bank, has spoken about the need for people of faith to reject any notion that this is a religious war, and to call out the terrible actions of both sides. “We have to believe that no one is above the law,” he told the BBC last weekend. “If we as faith leaders are OK with the idea that some states are above the law and can commit war crimes and not be held accountable, then what kind of a future are we living for our children?”
Unimaginable reserves of forgiveness will be needed if reconciliation in this troubled land is ever to come about; and forgiveness is only possible if all acknowledge their troubled history and make a commitment to a shared future. It is to be hoped that the next six weeks offers the chance for fruitful reflection, however unlikely that seems. Perhaps those involved need to hear the words of Emily Damari, the 28-year-old British-Israeli hostage released on Sunday. “Love, love, love,” she posted on Instagram. “Thank God, thank you to my family.” With the psalmist, we can only pray for the peace of Jerusalem.