I have struggled with what to say in this urgent, long-awaited moment that often seemed out of reach during these past 15 horrible months.
One of the questions I was faced with was this: What could I share with readers that would even remotely capture the meaning and depth of an apparent agreement to stop the widespread slaughter of Palestinians?
I had not suffered. My house is intact. My family and I are alive and well. We are warm, together and safe.
So the other pressing dilemma I faced was: Is writing my place? I thought this space should be reserved for Palestinians to reflect on the horrors they have endured and what is to come.
Of course, their voices will be heard here and elsewhere in the coming days and weeks. My voice, in this context, is insignificant and, in these grave circumstances, borders on irrelevant.
Still, if you and, in particular, the Palestinians please me, this is what I have to say.
I think there are four words that each, in their own way, have some meaning in relation to Wednesday's happy news that the guns are about to go silent.
The first word, and perhaps the most appropriate, is “relief.”
There will be plenty of time and opportunity for the “experts” to draw up their predictable scorecards of “winners” and “losers” and the broader short- and long-term strategic implications of Wednesday’s deal.
There will also be plenty of time and opportunity for more “experts” to consider the political consequences of Wednesday's agreement in the Middle East, Europe and Washington, DC.
My concern, and I suspect the concern of most Palestinians and their loved ones in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, is that peace has finally arrived.
How long it will last is a question best asked tomorrow. Today, let us all enjoy the relief that is a dividend of peace.
Palestinian boys and girls dance with relief. After months of pain, loss and sadness, joy has returned. The smiles are back. Hope has returned.
Let's enjoy a satisfying measure of relief, if not pleasure, in that.
There is also relief in Israel.
The families of the surviving captives will soon be reunited with the brothers and sisters, daughters and sons, mothers and fathers they longed to hug again.
Without a doubt, they will need care and attention to heal the wounds in their minds, souls and bodies.
That will be another very welcome peace dividend.
The next word is “gratitude.”
Those of us who, day after terrible day, have watched – heartbroken and helpless as a ruthless apartheid state has methodically reduced Gaza to dust and memory – owe our deepest gratitude to the brave and determined helpers who have done everything possible. to alleviate the situation. pain and suffering of the besieged Palestinians.
We owe our eternal gratitude to the countless anonymous people, in countless places in Gaza and the West Bank, who, at grave risk and at the expense of so many young and promising lives, put the well-being of their Palestinian brothers and sisters before their own lives. own.
We should be grateful for their altruism and bravery. They did their duty. They walked towards danger. They did not retreat. They stood firm. They stood firm. They rejected the purveyors of death and destruction who sought to erase their pride and dignity.
They reminded the world that humanity will prevail despite the occupier's efforts to crush it.
The third word is “recognize.”
The world must recognize the steadfast resistance of the Palestinians.
The occupier's objective was to break the will and spirit of the Palestinians. That has been the intention of the occupier for the last 75 years.
Once again, the occupier has failed.
The Palestinians are tireless. They are, like their brothers in Ireland and South Africa, immovable.
They refuse to be expelled from their land because they are bound to it by faith and history. Its roots are too deep and indestructible.
Palestinians will decide their fate, not marauding armies led by racists and war criminals who cling to the outdated notion that might is right.
It will take a little more time and patience, but I am convinced that the sovereignty and salvation that the Palestinians have won with blood and pain is not far on the horizon.
The last word is “shame.”
There are politicians and governments who will always bear the shame of allowing Israel to commit genocide against the people of Palestine.
These politicians and governments will deny it. The evidence of his crimes is clear. We can see it in the images of the apocalyptic landscape of Gaza. We will register all the names of the more than 46,000 Palestinian victims of their complicity.
That will be his decrepit legacy.
Instead of stopping the mass murder of innocents, they allowed it. Instead of preventing hunger and disease from taking the lives of babies and children, they encouraged it. Instead of turning off the weapons, they handed them over. Instead of shouting “enough,” they encouraged the killing to go on and on.
We will remember it. We won't let them forget it.
That is our responsibility: to ensure that they never escape the shame that will follow each and every one of them like a long disfiguring shadow in the evening sun.
What a shame for them. What a shame for all of them.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
