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LAST UPDATE | 10 Oct
CEASEFIRE.
After 734 days of Genocide in Gaza, finally, perhaps there exists a glimmer of hope, that an end may be in sight.
Those watching the horror unfold from a distance must avoid critiquing the merits of choosing to accept what is on offer, or to even pass comment on deciding the best course of action. In the words of Richard Falk, the Palestinians have for too long been spoken at, for, and about, all without their involvement and engagement.
The latest iteration of a ‘Peace’ plan exemplifies this very point – devoid of the Palestinian voice, it represents another attempted colonial carve up led by America and endorsed by many in the West, including those who stand accused of aiding and abetting a Genocide.
In getting to this point, it is worth centring the fact that it is the strength and resolve of the Palestinian people that led to this opportunity to broker an agreement, whatever it may look like.
The diplomatic manoeuvring in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s bombastic ‘take it or leave it’ demand has been extraordinary. So too was the political wrangling that ensured the collective voice of the Palestinian people was firmly reinserted, front and centre. A true masterclass in the art of negotiation.
The cold hard reality is that we should never have gotten this far.
Gaza has been totally destroyed. Whilst the exact number of people killed is difficult to discern, an article published in 2024 in the leading journal the Lancet concluded that it could well run into the hundreds of thousands, not taking into account the fact that very many will die due to the lingering effects of the Genocide.
Gaza’s entire civilian infrastructure has been decimated – all that is required to sustain life, including; hospitals, clinics, food distribution centres, and water desalination plants.
From the comfort of my academic office at Trinity, it is hard to fathom the reality that every Gazan university has been fully or partially reduced to rubble.
More bombs have been dropped on Gaza in the space of two years than in any other theatre of war – the equivalent of six Hiroshimas. Children were allowed to die in incubators due to a lack of oxygen. Those who were suffering from chronic illness before the outbreak of the Genocide will have been denied life saving treatment for over two years.
Schools, community centres, youth clubs and other sites of play and learning are no more.
According to UNOCHA, 90% of the Gazan population have been forcibly displaced. Famine is now rampant across the Strip.
If it holds (however, we have very little precedent upon which to build hope) then, yes, there is a ceasefire. As such, we will share in the joy and delight of our colleagues, friends and comrades in Gaza. This is an end that should have come much sooner, and is a deal almost identical to what was proposed as former US President Joe Biden exited office in January.
So whilst we hope for this dawn to be brighter than the myriad false ones up until now, we have to be careful not to lose sight of the fact that, in getting to this point there is much opprobrium to go around. History has shown, there can be no lasting peace in the absence of justice, and Trump’s 20 point plan offers precious little in that regard.
Our role as allies and supporters of Palestine and liberation, therefore, is to more directly and determinedly challenge what is being dangled, coercively, as ‘Peace’ and to ensure that we hold those responsible for Genocide accountable.
Accountability must happen for those who have active International Criminal Court arrest warrants out against their name for crimes against humanity, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant.
Buried in the rubble of Gaza, amongst the bodies of Palestinian men, women and children who had the temerity to demand their freedom from colonial oppression, lies the promise of international law.
If it is to mean anything, to anyone now or in the future, the wheels of international criminal justice must crank into gear – both men must be brought to the Hague and the principle of universal jurisdiction dictates that every country has a duty to arrest them when they enter their sovereign territory.
Beyond those directly responsible for dropping the bombs, there are countries who increased military aid packages to the Israeli government at an unprecedented scale, and those closer to home who allowed war planes to pause for refuelling in Shannon on route to support the Genocidal mission. They too must be held to account.
Political representatives who scrambled in earnest to fly over to Israel for photo opps in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak of the war; they provided the pretext, the political inoculation that green lighted Israel’s military campaign, one that has been found to be Genocidal by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Then there are those who blocked ceasefire demands in parliamentary buildings across Europe and those who sought to criminalise and punish those of us who spoke out against the Genocide.
The ceasefire terms on offer require a sizeable dose of good faith, and such leaps are unquestionably being taken by the Palestinian side. We are all too familiar with what the Israeli version of cessation of fire looks like (they cease, we fire). Multiple Israeli violations occurred at various other false dawn moments, including in March 2025. To this day, Israel continues to bomb South Lebanon despite a supposed ceasefire being in effect.
Now more than ever, our advocacy and the elevation of the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people must continue.
Those of us with decades of experience working on and for Palestine know that our gaze must be longer than October 7th 2023.
There can be no return to periodic assassinations, no more Israeli bombing campaigns euphemistically dismissed as a ‘mowing of the grass’, no more restrictions on fishing zones, no more prevention of travel abroad. We demand a complete end to the Israeli terrorisation of Gaza and a full commitment to ending the ongoing occupation that has gripped Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Anything short of this is a ruse and a further flawed, bastard version of ‘peace’. As allies, we must not drop our focus and allow this to be a temporary cessation. Should we do so, we will be ceding our collective strength and energy that has been cemented over the past two years of unimaginable horror and destruction.
We must not allow this to happen.
Dr Brendan Ciarán Browne is a Associate Professor and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.
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