We need to discuss UN Security Council Resolution 2803 on Gaza without empty slogans, without distributing false hope, without ignoring the reality on the ground, and without denying a resistance that is besieged and confined to ballot boxes.
We are all oscillating between pessimism and hope. The real situation is what mothers and fathers are living right now, as they try to protect their children from the cold in waterlogged tents in Gaza. You cannot tell them a story that is not true. It will not be convincing for them.
What is the outcome of the Gaza war? Who won, who lost, and who ended up the real beneficiary in the end?
It is an astonishing war that shattered all the concepts and frameworks that could describe the situation and turned them upside down. I believe we need to redefine the state of humanity, the status of ruling regimes, moral values, and the rules of human conduct after this war.
For example, you can now say with confidence: “Those who stood with Palestine in the Gaza war are people of conscience.” If we look at the elections in New York, the biggest driver for voters who cast their ballots for Zohran Mamdani was their support for Palestine. Gaza has become a cornerstone reshaping the trajectory of politics.
Those who speak about great victories achieved, and those who say they have suffered devastating defeats, both are right.
From now on, history will be divided into “before Gaza” and “after Gaza”. Is there not a vast difference between Israel before the Gaza war and Israel after it? Even Palestinian identity has moved to a completely different place after the war on Gaza. That is why I say the Gaza war has overturned many concepts, definitions, and perceptions in the world. We must read the entire question in the light of these new and changing concepts.
Neither side, neither Israel nor Palestine, can honestly say, “We are pleased with this resolution.” No one can live their life in ease and reassurance on the basis of this decision either. The resolution is full of ambiguity, open to conflicting interpretations, and contains flexible structures that shift with circumstances.
Hard Times for Palestine, but Also a Time of Openings
The opening lines of Charles Dickens’ novel “A Tale of Two Cities” are very famous. When I read them for the first time, I wondered in amazement: How can this be?
Yet the world after the Gaza war has become exactly as Dickens described it:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.
It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness.
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
We had everything before us, we had nothing before us.
We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”
If you look at the Palestinian flags raised around the world and the Israeli flags thrown on the ground, the loser in this war is Israel. But if you look at the seventy thousand civilians martyred in Gaza and at a city razed to the ground, then the victor is not Hamas.
It was a war that brought a short term defeat for Palestine, yet a long term victory. And it was a war that gave Israel a short term advantage, yet a crushing long term defeat.
I understand the paradox and contradiction contained in these two statements. But as Dickens said, sometimes a human being can live “the spring of hope and the winter of despair” in the very same moment.
Looking at UN Security Council Resolution 2803 on Gaza, neither side, Israel nor Palestine, can frame a sentence like “We are happy with this decision.” No one can shape a calm and settled life based on it either. The resolution is riddled with ambiguity, open to multiple readings, and contains flexible structures that shift with changing conditions.
In an environment where seventy thousand people have been killed, the United States, which armed Israel and provided it with political cover, has become the guarantor and executor of this agreement. It is as if the wolf has been appointed guard over the sheep.
Yet under this agreement, Israel also loses the luxury of fully occupying Gaza, expelling Palestinians, and killing people at will. One Israeli official lamented: “We could have killed 150,000 Palestinians a day, but we missed the opportunity.” If Israel had killed seven hundred thousand Palestinians instead of seventy thousand, who would really have stopped it?
In this sense, the very ability to remain in Gaza in the face of one of the most powerful and brutal armies in the world, and to cling to the land, is in itself a victory. The deed of ownership of Gaza is every single person who lives there. As long as they have not left, the land is theirs. Despite Israel’s overwhelming military power and the destruction it has caused, the agreement keeps Gaza for the Palestinians. Israel will be forced to withdraw. But when? And how? No one knows.
A Time to Take Root and Build Power
The body overseeing Gaza’s administration, the Peace Council, will be one where Donald Trump and Tony Blair hold the upper hand. We can already imagine the level of “justice” to be expected from such a structure. Nevertheless, Qatar and Türkiye are expected to join this council.
As for the international stabilisation force, from the outset it is a military presence Israel does not want in Gaza. It has been accepted, but it will be formed in consultation with Israel and Egypt. Every effort will be made to prevent Turkish forces from entering Gaza. Still, I do not believe any force from a Muslim country, if present on the ground, can ignore Israel’s crimes in Gaza.
I asked one Turkish official closely following the file what he thought of the agreement, whether he was satisfied. He said: “If we had not accepted it, Hamas would have been eliminated, the Palestinians expelled, and Gaza erased from the map. There was no one to stop Israel and America. We are not satisfied, but this is the best we have for now.”
Yes, the agreement is full of ambiguity and complexity, that is true. But at the same time it offers us an opportunity to remain, to hold out, to build strength, and to continue the resistance.
We must strengthen the rising Palestinian resistance worldwide and intensify opposition to Israel. We must build a front that stands with the oppressed against the oppressor everywhere. Then the resistance must continue until the occupied lands are returned to their rightful owners. Neither America, nor the United Nations, nor any other body will do this. It is the real owners of the land, the Palestinians, together with the Muslims, who must do it with the strength of their own hands.
I do not know if I have managed to make my point clear…
By Sunna Files Team
