A cease-fire is not peace
March 25 − To the Editor:
We’ve heard a lot of talk about an imminent cease fire in Gaza, rehashed in today’s paper. But it remains elusive because of several Hamas demands, not just Israel’s determination to eliminate their remaining brigades in Rafah. Two demands Israel seems poised to accept, according to today’s paper. Non-combatants may return to Northern Gaza even though fighting with armed militants is still ongoing there. The other is an exchange of 700 to 1000 Palestinian prisoners for just 40 of the 100 +/- hostages that remain alive, leaving 60 +/- behind, for now. The third Hamas demand is that Israel not only stop the military campaign, but that they withdraw all troops from Gaza so that Hamas is restored to it’s position on October 6 and their capability of launching more attacks like that of October 7. It’s time now for those here in America, in New Hampshire and in Portsmouth who have been clamoring for a ceasefire to demand that Hamas also accept a cease fire, not just Israel. That means that the fighting stops for the sake of alleviating the suffering of non-combatants, not a reversal of Hamas’s military setbacks. And release of ALL the hostages.
And consider this. A cease fire is not peace. That can only come when Jews and Arabs find a way to live alongside each other, harmoniously, from the river to the sea. A tall ask at the moment, but it’s the only way.
Also discussed in today’s article was financial support to the relief organization UNWRA, or lack thereof. We hear repeatedly the narrative that just twelve UNWRA employees out of 30,000 participated in the October 7 attack, and they’ve been fired, so what’s the big deal. First off, they should have been arrested not fired. More importantly, this narrative omits the fact that a major, high tech Hamas command center was underneath the basement of UNWRA headquarters and inextricably linked to it. UNRWA provided Hamas with power and utilities including internet services. Who could possibly believe that the affiliation between the UN and Hamas’s military operations was limited to twelve people who have been fired? Given that, the US must find a more trustworthy means to get food and aid to the people who are suffering, not to Hamas fighters. Building a pier for seaborne deliveries, which the US Navy is doing at President Biden’s directive, is a step in the right direction.
Jeffrey Cooper
Portsmouth