"Peace, peace, peace" were the words on the lips of the 27 world leaders who attended Monday's summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Shaikh to celebrate the ceasefire in Israeli's two-year war on Gaza. "Peace for our time", a phrase spoken by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain regarding the Munich Agreement of September 30th, 1938, frequently misquoted as "Peace in our time." Germany under Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and Poland in September 1939.

 

Absent from the summit were Hamas' leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who was belatedly compelled to agree to pause hostilities. Hamas had no choice but to opt for "peace." The Israeli army has overwhelmed Hamas' fighters, devastated the strip, and Gazans are hungry and tired. They must have time to secure shelter and supplies before winter comes. Hamas' allies Qatar, Turkey and Egypt have exerted pressure for a ceasefire while the international community wants the war to end.

 

Netanyahu has accepted a pause but not an end to the war which has kept in him office and out of jail. Now that the war has ended, he will be compelled to explain the Israeli army's failure to detect and preempt the raid on southern Israel conducted by Hamas. The Israeli army command was warned by "watchers" on the Israel-Gaza border that Hamas was gearing up for an operation but did not take their warnings seriously because the "watchers" were women soldiers. They were first in line to be slain or captured when Hamas fighters swept across the border on October 7th, 2023.

 

Netanyahu is also under trial for alleged bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. While the

 

trial was temporarily postponed by the Gaza war but has gone forward. He could face fines and jail time if convicted.

 

His war aim was to eliminate Hamas but he failed to achieve this objective. He has weakened Hamas and it was removed from governance by Donald Trump's peace deal. It also called for Hamas to disarm although it has refused to lay down weapons until a Palestinian state emerges. This is rejected by Netanyahu who refuses to see that there will be no peace without a Palestinian state. Most of the countries in the world understand that this is the case and have recognised the state before it has escaped from Israeli occupation.

 

Despite demands to disarm, Hamas has deployed fighters and police across Gaza in order to reassert authority in the strip. While Hamas has struck at rivals and executed alleged collaborators. It is acting with the temporary approval of Trump. "You have close to 2 million people going back to buildings that have been demolished, and a lot of bad things can happen. So we want it to be – we want it to be safe. I think it’s going to be fine. Who knows for sure,” he said.

 

On Monday, the first phase of the deal began with the release by Hamas of 20 living Israeli captives and the freeing by Israel of around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, 250 of whom had been sentenced to life. Palestinians expressed frustration over Israel's refusal to free key prisoners, notably Marwan Barghouti of Fatah and Ahmed Sa'adat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

 

A peacemaker and member of the Palestinian legislative council, Barghouti was arrested

 

#in 2002 for organising street protests against Israel's occupation during the second intifada (2000-2005). He was tried and convicted and sentenced to life for attacks that killed five Israelis, although he denied the charge. International rights agencies argued his conviction was based on unsafe evidence.

 

PFLP leader Sa'adat was sentenced to 30 years in 2008 for heading an “illegal terrorist organisation” and preparing multiple attacks, including the assassination of Israeli minister Ravahim Ze’evi in 2001 in retaliation for Israel's killing of his predecessor Abu Ali Mustafa after Israel had approved his return to Al-Bireh near Ramallah. He now calls for a binational democratic Palestinian state.

 

Israel's refusal to free these two peacemakers contradicts and undermines current efforts to reach a peace deal over Gaza. Once this has been accomplished, they could be expected to shift their attention to the Israeli occupied West Bank and Israel's half million illegal settlers as well as East Jerusalem which Israel occupied in 1967 and formally annexed in 1980. To secure a Palestinian state the world will have to turn back the clock to before June 5th, 1967.