THE Israel-Iran ceasefire was widely welcomed as people rightly felt that stopping further destruction and loss of human life should be the top priority. Both sides suffered heavy destruction during the 12 days of war and one shudders to even think of the loss of life and other harm that could have been caused by a prolonged war.
Unfortunately, there have been violations of the ceasefire in the hours following the operationalisation of the agreement. US President Donald Trump stated some hours later (as reported in The Guardian) that Israel has to ‘calm down’. Earlier, he said that Israel and Iran violated a ceasefire he tried to broker. Further, he said, “Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before, the biggest load that we’ve seen.”
Given such a response, it appears that much more follow-up work needs to be done to ensure the effectiveness and success of the ceasefire. The United Nations must also join the effort. The key is to seize this opportunity for peace, rather than focusing on who deserves credit.
What is more, there is the no less significant question of the continuing most tragic suffering of the people of Gaza and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the Palestinians in the West Bank.
On June 24, when so much was being discussed about the ceasefire, what was happening in Gaza? Al Jazeera reported in the later part of the day: “Israeli forces and drones have killed more than 80 Palestinians since dawn, including at least 51 near aid distribution centres in the latest attack on desperate people seeking aid in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to medical sources in hospitals.”
Ideally, a ceasefire on the Israel-Iran front should have been accompanied by a ceasefire for Gaza too. Unfortunately, this did not happen and what was no less distressing was the fact that there was very little mention of the extremely tragic situation in Gaza in the course of the various announcements of ceasefire. Hence, what has happened is very far from being a comprehensive peace effort, although this is what should have been aimed for. As any experienced diplomat would readily agree, peace efforts demand much more effort and planning to improve the chances of success instead of being based to a large extent on the announcements of a single powerful leader who is not exactly known for the kind of well-planned peace efforts that could be trusted.
However, it is still not too late to take up essential follow-up measures to improve the chances of the success of the ceasefire. Further, the concerns of the people of Gaza should never be forgotten, and there cannot be a true celebration of any ceasefire only on the Israel-Iran front as long as the killings and deprivations in Gaza continue.
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Bharat Dogra writes extensively on environment, development and welfare issues. The views expressed here are the writer’s own, and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them. He can be reached at: bharatdogra1956@gmail.com
