Ceasefire Announced!

Yesterday the announcement was made by the Qatari Prime Minister that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would begin on Sunday 19th January, however we are still waiting for Israeli cabinet approval.

For the last fifteen months Southport Friends of Palestine and countless other groups all around the world have been out on the streets calling for a ceasefire. So now is it time to celebrate?

The Palestinians in Gaza have been out in the streets chanting and dancing…but they are celebrating survival. They celebrate surviving a brutal genocide that has left thousands dead, injured and left lying under rubble. Whole families wiped out. Hospitals, schools, religious sites, UN buildings, homes destroyed or partially destroyed. 2 million or more displaced. Gaza lies in ruins.

And in the West Bank, the Palestinians are scared. Israeli soldiers killed five people including a child in Jenin Refugee Camp on Tuesday, this morning settlers have uprooted olive trees near Nablus. There is no sign that the brutality will cease there.

So let us this morning hope that the ceasefire brings an end to the genocide and some respite to the Palestinians. But it is not the end of the conflict. The consequences will reverberate through generations and there can be no peace without justice. Hostages must be released, Gaza must be rebuilt, and Netanyahu and his war mongering cabinet must be brought to the criminal court for their actions.

Free Palestine!