Today’s “Security Council Press Statement on Gaza ceasefire” leaves out a few essentials.
No mention is made of who started the recent fighting or why. Nothing is said of the destruction of homes and other buildings, of the trauma experienced by thousands of Palestinians and Israelis, or of the thousands wounded. The only regret expressed by the U.N Security Council members is for “the loss of civilian lives resulting from the violence,” as if a body count provides a complete picture of what has been lost and what should be mourned.
Nor does the U.N. offer any proposed actions that might prevent another round of death and destruction in a renewed battle between Israel and Hamas. It’s nice that the Security Council members have a “vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace…” But unless Hamas changes what is written in its revised charter of 2017, and unless its leaders profoundly shift the views they have publicly expressed even as recently as this week, there can NEVER be peace between Hamas and Israel. That is not to say there can never be peace between Palestinians and Israelis. There can be, but that peace will not include Gaza as long as it is run by Hamas. Why not? Because for Hamas, the very existence of Israel in any part of Palestine is illegitimate and morally unacceptable.
One last point: the Security Council calls for “developing an integrated, robust package of support for a swift, sustainable reconstruction and recovery.” But if the buildings and other infrastructure elements that are repaired, reconstructed, or rebuilt will then once again house weapons caches, missile launch sites, and Hamas “safe houses,” then they may well be destroyed in the next confrontation between Israel and Hamas.