Nearly three weeks into the armed conflict in Gaza, Palestinian civilian casualties are mounting amid signs of a deepening political stalemate. Despite frenzied diplomatic efforts, a ceasefire deal is not in sight.
Hamas rightly says any truce must include a guaranteed end to Israel’s eight-year blockade of Gaza and also wants Egypt to open its Rafah border crossing with the coastal enclave, the only passage not controlled by Israel.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister HE Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah said this week that it was critical to find ways to end the Israeli blockade on Gaza. “They deserve to have their own port - a seaport - so they can trade in and out, even if it is under international supervision,” he said.
“But I think the time now comes that we have to have a long-term solution for the people of Gaza who have been suffering for a long time.”
But will Israel listen to sense?
The rising death toll has propelled international diplomats to push for a ceasefire but as the basic problems are not being sorted out, the chances of such attempts are bound to fail.
Hamas leader Khalid Mishal’s declaration yesterday that Palestinians cannot coexist with their neighbours while their land is occupied assumes importance in this context.
In an interview with CBS News, Mishal demanded Israel lift its blockade of Gaza.
Asked by the interviewer whether he could foresee living beside Israelis in peace, Mishal said only a future Palestinian state could decide whether to recognise the Jewish state.
“We are not fanatics, we are not fundamentalists. We are not actually fighting the Jews because they are Jews per se. We do not fight any other races. We fight the occupiers,” he said.
“I’m ready to coexist with the Jews, with the Christians and the Arabs and non-Arabs,” he said. “However, I do not coexist with the occupiers.”
Pressed on whether Palestinians could recognise the state of Israel as a Jewish state, Mishal said: “When we have a Palestinian state then the Palestinian state will decide on its policies. You cannot actually ask me about the future. But Palestinian people can have their say when they have their own state without occupation.”
The Palestinian toll of Israel’s devastating military campaign crossed 1,030 yesterday.
Figures released by the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA indicate nearly three quarters of the victims were civilians and around a quarter of them children. And it says 18 hospitals, clinics and medical centres have been hit and damaged by Israeli shelling.
