How many times have we read or heard these phrases in the last eight months: “We are in favor of two peoples and two states”; «we need to give a new impetus to peace negotiations»; or, “let the weapons be silenced and the peace negotiations restart”; and also «no more supplies of weapons. Let us work for Peace”? And what about those who put the word Peace in their electoral symbol, an expedient that went terribly wrong, as seen with the former television tribune Michele Santoro desperately looking for a new role and Giuseppe Conte increasingly liquidator of the 5 Star Movement?
We have heard these very noble concepts thousands of times, however, when we ask to delve deeper into the topic or how to achieve these objectives “concretely” all we hear is more banalities.
For eight months now, therefore since that damned October 7, 2023, we have been telling practically every day what is happening in the Gaza Strip and we have also done so by going to the places of horror to understand and to tell, and never before have we felt all the distance that it passes from the mainstream narrative that continues to drink and spread the lies of Hamas and what actually happened and happens every day in this conflict. It is useless to remember how the armed intervention of Israel was born, which since 7 October has been the subject of attacks by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Syrian-Iraqi militias, all actors moved by Iran, without forgetting the painful story of the hostages still held in Gaza Strip, which only the Israelis care about as we have seen with the recent liberation of Noa Argamani and his other unfortunate companions in adventure.
To return to the conflict and the difficult path to Peace, this morning with yet another twist Hamas rejected the ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States. An Israeli official, widely quoted in Jewish media, says that Hamas' response to the call for the release of the hostages and the offer of a truce “effectively rejects the proposal.” Hamas and Islamic Jihad's response reportedly includes substantial changes to the offer, including a new timeline for the release of hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. According to the head of the Mossad, Dedi Barnea, “these changes constitute a substantial refusal.” Barnea was updated on the details of the response by the Prime Minister of Qatar, Muhammad Al Thani, and sources familiar with the details explained that “Hamas has changed the entire proposal.” According to Israeli sources, “the meaning is clear: a rejection of Biden's proposal.” The plan announced by the American president envisaged, in a first phase, a six-week ceasefire accompanied by the Israeli withdrawal from the densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of hostages held in Palestinian territory and of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. In the joint statement, Egypt and Qatar committed to continue their mediation efforts until an agreement is reached, adding that they “will coordinate with the parties regarding the next steps”. Certainly the most critical reactions will come from the United States once they have finished reviewing the proposal and evaluating the extent of Hamas's amendments. In Israel no one is surprised (not even us) and already last week some Hamas officials told the Times of Israel that the terrorist group “would avoid openly rejecting the Israeli proposal amid growing global support for an agreement and would instead seek to review the offer”. Benjamin Netanyahu's office made no statement, but an Israeli official said Hamas “has changed all the main and most significant parameters, equivalent to a rejection of the proposal on the table.”
So who doesn't want to stop the war, who doesn't want Peace? Israel or Hamas? The Israelis attacked on 7 October 2023 (it is worth remembering this) have always said that they intend to completely destroy the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and demand the release of all hostages as well as the delivery of the corpses of those killed during captivity. Hamas doesn't want all this because releasing the hostages would leave them with no cards left to play at the negotiating table, not to mention the differences between the “political” leaders who live in Doha and who want to find a solution to protect their billionaire assets, have life and who even want to manage the reconstruction money through their businesses, and the military leaders who have been resisting for months by invoking martyrdom as the only solution to the conflict after realizing that the Israelis will never let them flee to Egypt, Algeria or Tunisia, as they have repeatedly requested.
The question here is one: what peace do you want to make but above all with whom to make it if they don't first recognize established facts and responsibilities? And again, what's the point of negotiating tables if one of the two actors has been lying for months? There are those who would like Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip tomorrow morning in accordance with the wishes of Hamas, the UN and the countries that recognize Palestine as a nation when in reality it does not exist. By doing so, the terrorist organizations will soon reorganize thanks to the money from Qatar and Iran and will redo “another 7 October” as promised. All this with all due respect to the “peacemakers” and various occupiers who have not yet understood that it will not happen because Israel is fighting for its very survival.
If we talk about empty words and slogans, we certainly cannot forget the tormented Ukraine invaded by Vladimir Putin's Russia on 24 February 2022 to complete the previous operation of February 2014. The seemingly endless conflict has passed through various phases but the data certainly it is that of the victims who number in the thousands. The death toll of Russian soldiers in Ukraine has exceeded the 51,000 mark and the number of victims in the second year of the war increased by almost 25% compared to the first year (27,300 fallen Russian soldiers). This update was provided by BBC Russia and the independent media group Mediazona. The toll paid by the Ukrainians was very heavy, as they saw more than 10,500 civilians killed, including 587 girls and boys, and almost 20,000 people were injured, while 31,000 Kiev soldiers died in battle.
After the initial wave of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, Russian propaganda has rewritten reality so much so that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who is certainly no saint, has become a Nazi (he is a Jew), a drug addict, a murderer, a usurper , just to use some of the epithets used against him and NATO, according to many, guilty of being the cause of the Russian invasion as if the Eastern countries that joined the Atlantic Alliance did so because they were forced by someone. A crazy, historically false reconstruction which, however, has made converts so much so that anyone who dares to remember how things really are is immediately pilloried (if not threatened) on social networks. So how do we end this war?
Vladimir Putin has always refused to take part in peace conferences or negotiations, just as he has never accepted a ceasefire for a few hours. For him, what he took by killing and torturing – as seen in Bucha – belongs to him, just as he wants everything for which Russian soldiers are fighting today. There is no room for any mediation, either you accept his will or nothing. Russia, which incredibly still sits on the UN Security Council where it still has veto power, does not intend to stop the war except on its own terms. It is a fact and not the opinion of the writer.
The Ukrainians? According to Kremlin supporters who say they are “peace builders”, they must not use Western weapons to counterattack Russia because it would be an escalation. Therefore, according to those who adhere to this current of thought, the Ukrainians must let themselves be bombed at home and must not be attacked in Russia. In Kiev they rightfully want back what was stolen and destroyed from them but the mere fact of asking for it means that today they are the targets of the “pacifiers” who have been babbling for months about diplomatic meetings to be held with Putin who does not receive any of his and let alone them. Everything is missing, the will, the men of importance are missing and too many people even in the world of politics and information have made themselves available to the dictator of Moscow in unsuspecting times. Some for money and some wear the clothes of “polezny durak” which in Russian means “useful idiot”. If the war in Gaza can end with the military annihilation of Hamas, the Russian/Ukrainian conflict seems truly endless and those who hoped for China should resign themselves. For months the Chinese have been supporting the Russian war effort through supplies of dual use materials sent through triangulations with third countries. It was an open secret that even the leaders of the next G7 group starting tomorrow in Puglia noticed. They will call on China to stop enabling and supporting Russia's war against Ukraine. As Bloomberg writes this morning: «The Seven accuse Beijing of supplying Russia with technologies and components – some found in weapons, others needed to build them – helping Moscow's efforts to circumvent one wave after another of the G7's trade restrictions on many of these products.”
