Through mediators in Egypt, Hamas, the Islamist party in control of Gaza, and Israel have reached a ceasefire agreement going into effect today. This is good news. Obviously whenever fighting between two parties stops, a positive step has been taken. However, where to go from here is very much unclear. The initial agreement is only for 3 days, and there appears to be little that can be done after that. Israel will allow some additional materials into Gaza if the peace holds, and there will be negotiations for prisoners. These seem like significant steps forward.
Granted, the ceasefire itself was already a huge step in the right direction, but there still is little to no way out of the conflict Hamas and Israel have put themselves in without violence. This is partly because Israel’s primary goal is to replace Hamas with Fatah, the more secular Palestinian organization currently in control of the West Bank. This has raised Hamas’ suspicions, but is relatively reasonable on Israel’s part. Hamas, at best, would only accept the agreement that Fatah is willing to, that is, a 30 year truce with Israel. Given the choice of negotiating with the secular group who appears ore conciliatory or the Islamist whose original aim is to eliminate Israel, it is not hard to see which one the country would prefer to work with.
As a result, this new truce will very likely be only temporary, resulting in little gains for either side. However, this slight reprieve might provide enough time for both sides to eventually realize that coexistence might become necessary, no matter how loath they are to admit it.
