Al-Qalam 
Iqbal Jassat
In a statement, Rev Frank Chikane says: “The welcome ceasefire at the UN Security Council (UNSC) unfortunately comes after Israel killed 32, 333 in Gaza, 74,694 injured, many without limbs & medical help. Of the 32 333 killed, more than 14,280 are children, 9,340 women and 10,49 are elderly. Those alive are starved to death!”
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, 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 admin 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 contextualising the legal obligations of member states to abide by UNSC resolutions, it’s 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.
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 warlords, as well as huge cracks in the 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.”
Rev Frank Chikane: “The cruelty of the genocide of Israeli against Palestinians in Gaza & increased numbers of killings in the West Bank by the Israeli occupying force (IOF) & lawless illegal Israeli settlers has at last got the UNSC to adopt a ceasefire resolution in Gaza”.
*Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the Media Review Network, Johannesburg.
