It’s day 105, and there are loud whispers unfurling the tattered colours of colonialism about who should govern Gaza. These are the craftsmanship of the deluded.
The delusion is compounded by the fact that Gaza is part of greater Palestine, and what the delusions advocate is inherent in the thinking that an indefatigable Hamas, whose unquestioning and unwavering governance of Gaza will not be excised like some demon and the status quo ante with a quisling PA is restored.
Edward Said had warned that Oslo is flawed; Hamas and Islamic Jihad see it as an act of betrayal or a “sellout”. The solution whispered about is delusory, let alone fundamentally flawed, and any solution conceived in that direction will compound the disaster.
Already, the entry of Yemen blockaded the Red Sea dragging Iran, India, the US and some Arab countries into the greater conflagration.
To be truly durable, the solution must be framed for the whole region enveloping Palestine and Israel. It must address the root cause of the unending violence, namely the defects annexation of East Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian territories.
To take Said’s warning to its logical and practical understanding, any solution will require Israel to compromise to regain lost trust. A confidence builder, if you know what I mean.
This is the pathway of promise. With the ICJ outcome, I believe that as a middle way is to immediately halt the war and restore to the Palestinians their ancestral lands and homes.
Repeating the old paradigms riding under the skirt of the US and UK will exacerbate the catastrophes whose pathology we witness going into day 102 and beyond…
Saber Ahmed Jazbhay
Durban