I Guess I'll Be the Asshole to Point Out that the Gaza War Isn't Over
Somebody had to
Many Gaza War protesters seem to struggle with the meanings of words. The most obvious is “genocide”, which — you’re not going to believe this — actually does have a definition, even though it’s come to mean “any bad thing”. “Apartheid” is also dubious — its applicability depends on whether you think the status quo in the West Bank is permanent — and it’s surprising how often you hear about the “occupation” of Gaza considering that Israel left Gaza in 2005. I’m not calling all of the protesters idiots, but I’m absolutely calling some of them idiots, specifically the ones who regurgitate buzzwords without knowing what they mean.
“Ceasefire” has been a key phrase in the protester lexicon. I’ve never understood why “ceasefire” took hold, because the protesters don’t want a ceasefire — they want an armistice. An armistice is a formal end to a war; a ceasefire is just a pause in the fighting. Ceasefires can be small and inconsequential, like the one on Christmas Day 1914, when British and German soldiers exchanged gifts, played soccer, and then went back to trying to murder each other with poison gas for another four years.
There is now a ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages, Israel will release 1,900 prisoners, and Israel will withdraw from some strategic locations. Aid is being distributed, and some displaced Palestinians will return to their homes. 16 days after the ceasefire begins, negotiations will begin on Phase 2 of the agreement, and Phase 2 includes, well…everything else. And “everything else” seems like a lot to me. It seems like there are some giant, thorny issues contained within “everything else”. So, though pointing this out makes me feel like a guy letting the air out of the bouncy castle at a kid’s birthday party, it seems plausible to me that the war might start back up in March.