The calm after storms in Palestine

“Though tears may fall throughout the night, joy comes in the morning”
The Book of Psalms



Congratulations to Hamas, Israel and Egypt on the announcement of a six month cease fire agreement. According to the Palestine Information Center, (www.palestine-info.co.uk) the ceasefire is to begin Thursday morning at 6:00 am. The Information Center is also reporting that along with an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza and also an end to Palestinian retaliation against Israel, the ceasefire agreement includes an Egyptian and Palestinian commitment to get the Rafah crossing opened, essentially ending the brutal and illegal Israeli economic siege on the Gaza Strip, allowing delivery of much needed humanitarian aide and access to health care. Delegations from Hamas, the EU and Fatah are to meet and to finalize the plans for opening the crossings.

If this cease fire succeeds, it will end the incessant bloodletting that has been taking place in Palestine since the beginning of the illegal occupation and initial attempts by Zionist terrorist organizations to ethically cleanse Palestine. It was Israel’s illegal attempts at ethnic cleansing that resulted in the formation of the PLO and other Palestinian liberation and resistance organizations. In spite of the propaganda being disseminated by the pro-Israel disinformation mills disguised as US media; the world knows that there is no question about which came first, the Israeli chicken or the resistance egg. Israel’s illegal occupation gave birth to Palestinian resistance, and it was Israeli violence and its repeated military attacks on mostly unarmed Palestinians that led to Palestinian rocket attacks on Southern Israel. The cease fire ends this cycle of violence that has resulted in too many deaths on both sides.

Palestine, and Egypt working cooperatively on the development of the Palestinian shoreline to create a Port and natural gas industry that can attract private investment to that region has a better chance of changing the future of the region’s people, than the failed “New Middle East” strategy that was the premise of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Clean Break policy paper that served as the blueprint for the genocide in Gaza, US invasion and destruction of Iraq, and the planned attacks on Syria and Iran.

The cease fire creates a new hope, and opportunity, even for Israel. It is a hope that is based upon the possibility of a new reality that casts Israel, rather than as an enemy, and European colonial military outpost in the heart of the Muslim world, as an independent nation/ state, that is working in peace and cooperatively along with its neighbors to stabilize and develop the region for the benefit of Israel and its neighbors, who should be its natural trading partners. As the economies of the West stall and sputter, it is an excellent time for Israel to consider its true independence, and its future as part of a Middle East economic bonus that is possible if the oil rich countries now flush with cash can be convinced that the region is stable, that Israel is sincere and that it is capable of peace.

If Israel proves that it is able to stand up as an independent entity that is capable of acting in its own interest, working cooperatively and peacefully with its neighbors in the region, ending illegal settlement building, and withdrawing to its pre 67 borders, a new Middle East will come into being. If Israel does not want to withdraw to its 67 borders, it might consider a bi-national or one state arrangement instead. On the other hand, if Israel continues to invest its future in the likes of the warmongers John Hagee, Pat Robertson and the other racist Zionist Christians and Jews who have caused the wars that led to the deaths of too many innocent Palestinians, Israelis ad Americans in pursuit of a fantasy that has no basis in any Holy Scripture, there is no hope for peace, and even worse, there is every likelihood that there will be more war.

A tariff free trade zone in Gaza and a Port along with a natural gas industry spells “New” Middle East in words not spoken, nor understood by the likes of Netanyahu, Feith, Perle and the other Clean Break conspirators who invested Israel’s future in a demoralizing war of attrition and genocide in Gaza, and illegal invasions death and destruction in other Muslim countries at US expense. Israel should recognize that there is no greater or more meaningful type of recognition than inclusion, and peaceful cooperation towards shared goals. It can happen once its neighbors are sure that Israel is capable of being a good neighbor and it no longer poses a nuclear or military threat to its neighbors due to its pursuit of expansion through military conquest, while using the US military as its proxy, and the US taxpayer as its financiers.

The ceasefire, if it holds, will, God willing, be a win/win/win/win proposition that even benefits the US. The cease fire represents an opportunity for our own clean break from an infantile Israel that can grow up and take its place among the world’s nation/states as a free and independent entity, part of a region that will accept its presence, yet will never tolerate its return to violence, expansion, exclusivism and ethnic cleansing. Israel’s independence will allow us to lessen foreign and military aide to Israel which has its own weapons manufacturing industry, its own military, economy and its own government. If Israel is to be sovereign, it must be independent, and self sufficient. An independent Israel also lessens its appeal to religious fanatics who are willing to kill us all for the false hope of rapture that is presently threatening to push us into another world war. Our own independence will also be restored, which allows us to formulate a foreign policy that reflects, and is in the interest of the United States, and its sovereign people.

Congratulations world, there is a ceasefire between Hamas and` Israel that will, God willing begin Thursday morning at 6:00am, and that will last for six months, and perhaps more. It is an historic possibility and milestone whose potential should not be underestimated. The international Muslim and Arab community should send special thanks to former US President Jimmy Carter who broke the barriers of fear and hate that helped make this break through possible, and also to the North African Muslim countries, and their leaders who offered to break the siege and to provide Gaza with fuel, and scheduled brief openings of Rafah Crossing for health care and humanitarian purposes. The power of these gestures were themselves a breakthrough that without doubt, signaled the world that for all intent and purpose, the siege was at that moment, broken. We should also send our eternal love to Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah who stood steadfast on behalf of Gaza and all of Palestine, at great risk to their own interests, and security. Everyone knows that the desire for war with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah is directly related to their courageous stands for liberation, justice and peace for the Palestinian people.

To those who question whether Hamas acted out of weakness or strength as it pursued this period of calm and ceasefire, Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri’s statement posted on the Palestine Information Center site says that Hamas sees the ceasefire as a fruit of resistance, and says that its strength played a part in attaining the calm, and will also play a part in preserving the calm. He said that Israel is expected to also live up to its obligations under the agreement.

May God help and guide His Ummat, forgive us all for our sins and grant us peace and prosperity in exchange for our constant prayers, our broken hearts, our many sacrifices and our tears. Ameen.