March 26, 2024 Articles, Commentary
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a
planned delegation visit to Washington. (Image:
Palestine Chronicle)
facebook sharing button Sharetwitter sharing button
Tweetpinterest sharing button Pinemail sharing
buttonsharethis sharing button
By Iqbal Jassat
As expected, the “ceasefire resolution” has got the
world abuzz and, though Hamas has welcomed it by
thanking the UN Security Council, the occupying regime
is deeply unhappy and distressed by it.
In its statement, the Palestinian ResistAnce movement
Hamas has called for a permanent ceasefire that “leads
to the withdrawal of all Zionist forces from the Gaza
Strip, and the return of the displaced to the homes from
which they left”.
To demonstrate its commitment to comply, Hamas said it
is willing “to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange
process that leads to the release of prisoners on both
sides”.
In addition, Hamas has called on the Security Council
“to pressure the occupation to adhere to the ceasefire
and stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing
against our people”.
On the other hand, the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu
is fuming. His anger is reflective of the deep-seated
vengeful characteristic of the racist Zionist ideology,
responsible for the mass slaughter of Palestinians in
what has outraged the world: the #GazaGenocide.
As the minutes were ticking at the Security Council,
with member states seen huddling in groups before the
session commenced, Netanyahu issued an ultimatum to Joe
Biden: If you fail to veto it, I will cancel the trip of
my envoys to you!
His threat failed dismally. The Biden Administration
abstained instead of vetoing the resolution.
By not exercising its veto as it had done on three
previous occasions, the resolution sailed through with
the support of the balance of all 14 states.
The resolution demands an immediate ceasefire for the
month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a
lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the
immediate and unconditional release of “all hostages”,
without conditioning it.
In other words, the resolution does not insist that for
the ceasefire to kick in, “hostages” have to be released
as a prior condition.
In contextualizing the legal obligations of member
states to abide by UNSC resolutions, it is important to
distinguish Hamas as a non-state Resistance movement
engaged in a freedom struggle that is not a party to the
UN Charter, whereas the apartheid regime of Israel is.
It means that the resolution is primarily directed at
the Zionist entity by calling on it as a party to the UN
Charter to comply with the ceasefire demand.
Hence, Hamas is perfectly correct to insist that the
UNSC pressures the occupying regime to adhere to the
ceasefire and stop the war of genocide and ethnic
cleansing against Palestinians.
At the same time, while Netanyahu has been throwing
tantrums, his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in
Washington meeting US National Security Adviser Jake
Sullivan.
The tension and policy differences between Netanyahu and
Gallant have become messy and publicly known.
The Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel (TOI) reports
that the public spat between the two follows in the wake
of Netanyahu’s decision to cancel a trip for his top
aides to Washington due to the Biden Administration’s
refusal to veto the resolution.
According to TOI, Gantz believes that not only should
the delegation set out for the US, but “it would have
been good if the prime minister would travel to the US
himself, and hold a direct dialogue with President Biden
and senior officials.”
Netanyahu rejected the suggestion, in what’s turning out
to be a circus or perhaps what many people would be
inclined to believe that the colonial entity is indeed a
banana republic.
A crisis between the two war lords as well as huge
cracks in US/Israel alliance is a welcome development
for Palestine’s resistance movements particularly Hamas,
notwithstanding the fact that the Biden admin remains
fully committed to Netanyahu’s criminal goals.
In his response on behalf of the Palestinian National
Initiative (PNI), secretary-general Mustafa Barghouti is
pretty forthright:
“The UN Security Council resolution for an immediate
ceasefire is binding, and it dealt a blow to Netanyahu
and his extremist and aggressive government, and
sanctions must be imposed on it if it refuses to
implement it.
“Although the decision was unbalanced with regard to the
prisoners because it did not explicitly refer to the
need to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners, it
stressed the necessity of removing all ‘Israeli’
obstacles to the arrival of humanitarian aid to all
areas of the Gaza Strip, which means the freedom for all
displaced persons to return to their homes and areas
where they abandoned it.”
|
|