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The debate over the narratives of victory and defeat in the war on Gaza

January 23, 2025 at 9:12 am

A protester holds a sign that reads, ‘stop the bloody war!’ during a protest calling for the hostage deal to get confirmed on January 16, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. [Noam Galai/Getty Images]

Israel’s acceptance of the ceasefire agreement sparked controversy over its three stages, stopping Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza after arduous negotiations and mediation led by Qatar, Egypt, the Biden administration, and Trump’s envoy to the Middle East. It was reached despite the inflexibility, evasion and avoidance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist cabinet and their obstruction of the mediation efforts, with the support of Biden and his conciliatory administration for 15 months.

Biden did not exert the required pressure on Netanyahu to stop the war, despite his influence over the Israeli side. This worsened the situation and complicated the mediation efforts. However, the Qatari side made tireless efforts, despite Doha being exposed, as confirmed by Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman, to “cheap criticism and blackmail against Qatar’s role” noting that “Qatar’s critics did nothing to stop the war” against the people of Gaza.

Netanyahu’s submission to the terms of the agreement despite the resignation of Internal Security Minister Ben-Gvir in rejection of the agreement is interesting, as he agreed to it without achieving the three declared goals he announced on the first day of the war. The first goal was to eliminate Hamas. This goal was later reduced to eliminating its capabilities. Netanyahu and his gang had boasted with arrogance and foolish pride after ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ on 7 October 2023 that there would be no Hamas, and that Tel Aviv would eliminate it. However, his goal was dwarfed, and he declared on 14 January 2025: “We are waiting for Hamas’s response, and we will announce the deal.”

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The second goal of the war, which was not achieved, was the release of the captives, and the third goal was to neutralise Gaza so that it would not be a future source of threat to Israel’s security. However, the real, undeclared goal was ethnic cleansing, permanent displacement and returning to settlement construction. Israel also continued to bomb civilians, while the resistance in Gaza responded until the last hours before the ceasefire came into effect. Clearly, several factors interacted and overlapped to achieve this, most notably Trump’s pressure and threats, and him sending his envoy, which played a decisive role in forcing Netanyahu to accept the terms of the ceasefire agreement and the exchange of captives and prisoners between Hamas and Israel in three stages. The implementation of the first stage began on Sunday, one day before Trump took office.

It is also interesting that Netanyahu accepted the same terms of the agreement presented by President Biden last May, which he constantly rejected, confirmed by the fact that Biden said the agreement was reached thanks to him. When asked about Trump’s role, he replied, “Is that a joke?” He added that the Trump administration will implement the terms and three stages of the agreement, starting with the first stage, which will last 42 days.

Netanyahu’s acceptance of the terms of the agreement after rejecting them also confirms that he and his government are the ones who hindered the agreement for eight months, which could have saved the lives of more than 10,000 innocent Palestinians. This disproves the lie that Netanyahu and his gang claim, adopted by the White House and the US State Department, that Hamas is the one being difficult and obstructing and rejecting the ceasefire agreement. In reality, Hamas announced that it had accepted it.

Netanyahu was also stubborn and refused to implement Security Council Resolution 2735 for a ceasefire, which was presented by the US. It was approved by 14 countries and Russia abstained, last May. The US used its veto four times to reject a ceasefire and the fifth time to prevent Palestine from being granted full membership to the UN. President Biden even called for a ceasefire, but without any real pressure on Netanyahu!

Occupation forces continued to bomb, systematically kill and demolish buildings in Gaza until the ceasefire entered into force in its first phase for 42 days.

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The challenge remains: Will Israel adhere to the terms of the agreement in its three stages, especially since ministers from the Likud Party announced, in response to Ben-Gvir’s accusations, that the agreement allows Israel to return to the war! However, the mediating parties, Qatar, Egypt and the US, are the guarantors of the ceasefire and the full implementation of the terms of the agreement.

Trump does not want any foreign wars that would occupy his time and distract him from the conflicts within divided America. Social media and talk shows on satellite channels in our Arab world were filled with heated debates between those who claim: How can this be called a victory for Hamas and the Palestinian cause despite the price paid, the large destruction bill, the martyrdom of more than 50,000, 70 per cent of whom are children and women, the injury of more than 100,000 others, and the complete destruction of 70 per cent of Gaza’s homes, making them uninhabitable. There has also been the destruction of the infrastructure and services, including hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, care centres and others. This narrative is adopted by those who promote the Israeli narrative and those who want to punish Hamas and exclude it from the “day after” political scene, as well as rule out its governance and management of Gaza’s affairs.

As for the counter-narrative, it confirms that no matter the magnitude of the sacrifices, tragedies, losses and destruction, the resistance and the people of Gaza have stood firm and struggled against the brutality of the systematic Israeli genocide. They have inflicted the greatest losses in soldiers and equipment on the invincible army in the longest war that Israel has been forced to fight in the history of its occupation, lasting over 470 days, along with the moral decline.

It is a well-known fact that in asymmetric wars, when the strong fails to achieve their goals, and the weak prevents the victory of the strong, the weak wins and the strong loses.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 19 January 2025

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.