What’s wrong with calling for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire?

Last Updated: October 29, 2023By Tags: , , , , , , ,

Apocalypse now: how can anyone oppose a ceasefire when this hell is being rained on innocent men, women and children?

We’re hearing a huge number of calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at the moment.

Is it practical? Some would say “no”. Is that because Hamas isn’t actually doing much firing, and Israel is having fun destroying buildings and murdering innocent Gazans?

Let’s see – starting with a bit of context:

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The United Nations has, in fact, passed a non-binding resolution calling for a ceasefire.

But the UK abstained for the stupidest reason possible:

Here’s how the vote went:

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, who has relatives in Gaza who are living without clean drinking water, had something to say about this:

Meanwhile, ceasefire calls are mounting – many with well-reasoned thinking behind them:

But what about the demands that there should not be a ceasefire? Are these well-reasoned arguments?

I answered this one. Was it a good response?

Let’s cut through the nonsense here. According to our good friend Wikipedia – and I’ve changed the quote around to emphasise the point I want to make,

The immediate goal of a ceasefire is to stop violence, but the underlying purposes of ceasefires vary. An actor may not always intend for a ceasefire to advance the peaceful resolution of a conflict, but instead give the actor an upper hand in the conflict (for example, by re-arming and repositioning forces or attacking an unsuspecting adversary), which creates bargaining problems that may make ceasefires less likely to be implemented and less likely to be durable if implemented.

So the fears of the naysayers are valid, and we should remember that. But…

Ceasefires may be intended to meet short-term limited needs (such as providing humanitarian aid), manage a conflict to make it less devastating, or advance efforts to peacefully resolve a dispute.

So I’m also right. And if the weight of the international community is put behind such efforts, they might come to fruition.

The operative question, then, is: why are so many political actors so unwilling to try?

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2 Comments

  1. Stu October 30, 2023 at 8:45 am - Reply

    The Tories have form here.
    Just like Thatcher created both the Falklands and first Iraq Wars when her poll ratings fell, Sunak & Co are creating a pathetic “War by Proxy” and stirring up Islamaphobic rhetoric to retain control.
    Nobody wants a change of Government during a Crisis…

    A rise in Arms Sales from a prolonged War won’t hurt either

  2. Hecuba October 30, 2023 at 11:57 am - Reply

    Answer to question as to why so many so-called political western leaders are supporting the Israeli systemic gynocide/genocide of Palestinian women, children and men is because they view this group as ‘non-humans’ who are expendible in their quest for more power, more profits and more control over land and resources.

    Men have waged war since time immemorial and still they don’t learn – civilians are ‘collatoral damage’ and the end always justifies the means because certain civilians are expendible say the war mongers!

    The UN Secretary General alone continues to speak out and denounce Israel’s murderous campaign against innocent Palestinians!

    Sunak and Starmer have demonstrated they don’t care about civilians because their sole goal is to attain more political power no matter how many women, children and men are murdered by the Israelis! Shame on Sunak and Starmer and shame on the other western political leaders for proving they too are rotten and corrupt to the core!

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