Israel-Hamas: A fragile ceasefire tested from the word go<\/p>\n
EXPERT COMMENT<\/p>\n
A stream of American senior officials to Israel indicates that the White House is keen to ensure that ceasefire violations do not derail Trump\u2019s so-called peace plan.<\/p>\n
All ceasefires are fragile because they come on the heels of bloodshed, suffering and devastation; and in most cases one or more sides fail to achieve their objectives fully despite paying a heavy price along the way. This is very much the case with the\u00a0ceasefire between Israel and\u00a0Hamas<\/a>\u00a0in Gaza, with the protagonists facing each other in close proximity while distrusting each other immensely.<\/p>\n This is not a ceasefire that either the leadership of Israel or Hamas wished for, mainly because it creates the space for an earnest questioning of their culpability for the two disastrous years they have inflicted on each other and on their own societies. As the\u00a0maxim<\/a>\u00a0by a Soviet \u2018culture\u2019 ministry official goes: \u2018When the cannons are heard, the muses are silent, when the cannons are silent, the muses are heard.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n It is a saying which aptly captures the suppression of dissent in times of war. Hence the struggle by both sides\u2019 leaderships to hold on to power, or to maintain some relevance within their respective societies. Part of it is directed inwards, as in the case of Hamas carrying out\u00a0summary street\u00a0executions<\/a>\u00a0of opponents.<\/p>\n