After over 63,000+ killed (and 158,000 injured), calling for a ceasefire is the bare minimum. Badly needed but far from enough.
The pendulum needs to swing but not back to where it was. The unfolding events since 7 October has hurled it into a different orbit.
We cannot go back to the siege, blockade and embargo on Gaza. Not only should illegal settlement expansion come to a complete halt, the occupation of West Bank and East Jerusalem needs to end. The apartheid needs to be brought down. The nightly raids need to stop. The 793+ checkpoints need to be dismantled.
If by restoring calm, it means putting the Israel-Palestine issue in formaldehyde, the answer is a firm no. Palestinians will no longer live on their knees. No more hostages.
We will not stand by and wait for the next Palestinian family to be burned, for the next Palestinian child to be killed or arrested, for the next settlement to be built.
Palestinians are not interested in a ceasefire where we can look at our “open wounds, martyred children, slaughtered families, destroyed homes and shattered lives” and “wait for our death” once the ceasefire is over.