Israel Ceasefire: What A Relief, At Least For Now

We all know that this is not the first time Israel and Palestine engage into a fierce fighting. And it’s certainly not the first time that civilians find themselves victims of the bombings in both camps. Whether or not somebody can certify that this is the very last time the world has to witness such horrifying and irrepressible conflicts between the two sides, none can tell.

According the Al Jazeerah report, the recent conflict which started on December 27, 2008 and got carried all the way through to mid January 2009, birthed more than 750 dead and 3200 injured in Gaza, including women and children. With the actual official ceasefire, Israeli military has finally backed off, but God only knows how long this temporary peace will last for.

The Hamas, a Palestinian Sunni Islamic military organization, were the key opponents to Israel’s mega force. According to Wikipedia, Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by many countries including the United States and the European Union.

Earlier, during the boiling opposition, the UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon spoke of his alarm for the Israel and Hamas’s “acts of violence.” In fact, the UN chief called for an immediate ceasefire as he expressed his “concern” about the disaster caused by the relentless rocketing in Gaza saying that it was “unacceptable.” Still, despite every possible authoritative figure’s call for an immediate ceasefire, it was shocking to note how these messages were falling on Israeli’s death ear. No respond whatsoever. For what seemed like an endless season, we saw with horror how the number of casualties and dead were multiplying day after day after day.

At one stage on January 7 this year, in a special interview with Sky News, the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, defended their merciless bombing actions. Mr Peres was blaming the Palestinians’ so-called ‘terrorists supported by Iran’ who according to him, have been “warned many times” claiming that they attacked Israel using innocent masquerades such as appearing in hospital as sick people and so on. Although the Israeli President argued that his country wasn’t aiming at conquering a territory in Gaza, his cold face could say a lot on how Israel feels about its enemy.

It is true that every time we saw news reports on our screens or heard that more civilians were being caught up in the political conflicts between Israel and Palestine, our hearts went out to the victims. But isn’t it sad enough to note that in all cases there’s hardly any sign that the perpetrators give a damn about innocent people?