Who is impeding ceasefire in Gaza?

Comment by Khalid Amayreh in the occupied West Bank

"The Palestinian government in Gaza has recently given many indications of its willingness to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

This writer has received first-hand information from some Gaza officials, expressing genuine readiness to reach a dignified and equitable ceasefire agreement that would put an end to the callous Israeli blockade of Gaza and the daily killing of Palestinians there in exchange for a stoppage of all rocket-firing on nearby Jewish settlements.

In recent days, some Israeli officials close to the Defense Ministry asked some rabbis, who purportedly hold relatively moderate views regarding Hamas, to look into the possibility of a ceasefire agreement with the Islamic group, which might also include a possible prisoner swap between the two sides.

However, as Hamas displayed good will and willingness to stop the violence and bloodshed, the Israeli government was, as always, displaying expressions of insolence, bellicosity and arrogance of power......

Indeed, how could a state that was based and continues to be based on oppression, racism, ethnic cleansing and genocide claim to have moral legitimacy?....Well, Nazi Germany also existed and was very powerful in its days, but that didn’t mean that it possessed any moral legitimacy.

Moreover, demanding that Hamas recognize Israel’s “ moral” legitimacy is tantamount to asking Palestinians to adopt the Zionist narrative, in which case Palestinians would effectively become de facto Zionists, all for the sake of having the “honor” of sitting down in the presence of Olmert or Rice or Bush, people who represent and embody the moral decadence of our time......

....Israel’s birth was an act of rape, it continues to be an act of rape, and will always be an act of rape. Needless to say, an act of rape can’t be morally legitimate with the passage time.

Disgusting opportunism

Unfortunately, Hamas’s efforts to save Palestinian blood through reaching a prospective dignified ceasefire are being utilized as “propaganda fuel” by the American-backed regime in Ramallah. These are the same people who collaborate with the Israeli occupation army against their own people in the West Bank through the so-called “security coordination.”

The cheapness of character of these quislings, who eat with American dollars, breathe with American dollars and practice their treachery and treason with American dollars, has reached unprecedented levels that they continue to have business as usual with their enemies even when the latter murder their colleagues as happened last week in Bethlehem.......

In light, it is highly recommended that genuine efforts be made to reach a dignified ceasefire with Israel that would save the blood of our children and our fighters and our civilians. If the enemy continues to say “No” and keeps up the daily slaughter, then the resistance can be resumed anytime of our choosing. And then we would be occupying even a higher moral ground and Israel would be further exposed as the villain."