By: Prof. Dr. Mohsen Mohammad Saleh.
After 48 days of savage aggression and Israeli massacres, Hamas succeeded in imposing its will and forced the Israeli government, reluctantly, to retract its declared stance on prisoners and comply with Hamas’s conditions to reach a temporary truce. What are the implications of the prisoner exchange deal?!
***
The Temporary Truce and Exchange Deal:
An agreement was reached after tough and complex negotiations, following long days of maneuvering and tension. Israel, utilizing its experience and professionalism in negotiations, and backed by Western international support, attempted to use what it believed to be a strong logistical position (due to its occupation of parts of northern Gaza Strip (GS) and the immense destruction and heinous massacres it inflicted) to impose its conditions. However, the resistance conducted the negotiations with confidence, efficiency and composure, sending a firm message to the Israeli occupation that it would not succumb to pressure; the crisis is essentially that of the Israelis themselves; and that it would only accept the deal except at the price it demanded.
The deal came after intensive Qatari and Egyptian efforts, with US assurances. The agreement included a temporary humanitarian truce for four days, during which a ceasefire would occur in all areas of GS. The Israeli aerial movement in the southern part of the Strip would come to a halt, while aerial movement in the northern part of the Strip would pause for six hours daily. During the truce, the occupation is committed not to arrest anyone in GS, allowing the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian, relief, medical and fuel aid. During the truce, fifty women and children under the age of 19, held by the resistance, would be released in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian women and children prisoners under the age of 19 in Israeli prisons.
Key Implications:
This agreement strongly indicates the resilience of the resistance and its high capacity of leadership, control and management, despite the atrocities and destruction suffered by GS. It underscores the success of the resistance in handling challenging negotiations amid a fierce war involving major global powers. Qatari and Egyptian mediation played a facilitating role alongside the qualitative and effective effort of the resistance.
Secondly, the resistance, through the agreement, succeeded in breaking the Israeli political will, which initially has declared that it would use military force for the release of its captives. The Israeli failure to achieve a military victory and its significant losses were clear reasons for accepting the truce. After 48 days of savage aggression, the Israeli army failed to capture a single resistance fighter and could not locate any living captive, civilian or military.
Netanyahu has faced increasing pressure from the Israeli captives’ families and significant criticism from prominent figures within the Israeli society, including former prime ministers, military and security leaders, in addition to US pressure, all aimed at reaching a truce and a deal regarding civilian captives. Thus, forcing Netanyahu and his extremist team to accept the truce.
Thirdly, the legendary steadfastness of the Gazans, their resistance to manipulation and intimidation, and their thwarting of displacement attempts have been crucial for the resistance’s success.
The community’s support was the “secret” in shaping and nurturing resistance fighters, sacrificing its sons, wealth and assets for the sake of defending the land, holy sites, and realizing the liberation and return project.
Fourthly, the resistance naturally, has agreed to this truce in order to provide relief, food and medical aid to the Gazans, alleviating their suffering and reinforcing their resilience. This will enable the resistance to continue with more efficiency and strength after the truce.
Fifthly, the resistance will take the opportunity to regroup, organize its ranks, and strengthen communication between leadership and field operations. It will also provide a chance to reposition and redeploy its forces, update information about enemy positions, and prepare for the upcoming challenges.
Sixthly, this truce will be an important opportunity to activate the role of municipalities, civil defense and medical staff to provide urgent services to the Gazans. Most importantly the recovery of corpses from under the rubble and burying them, especially with reports of about seven thousand missing persons, more than half of whom are children and women. For these were not removed due to the ongoing brutal Israeli aggression.
Seventhly, the Israeli side will try to use the truce to improve its international image and achieve a partial success related to the release of some civilian prisoners to ease internal pressures. It may attempt to use intelligence resources during the truce to gather information about political and military resistance leaders, aiming to create an image of victory by assassinating any of them. The Israeli side will also continue its efforts to locate the whereabouts of its prisoners.
***
In general, the truce reflected the resistance’s imposition of its will and sent a powerful message about its the competence and effectiveness of resistance after 48 days of Operation al-Aqsa Flood. This message conveys to the Israeli, US and their allies the extreme difficulty, if not impossibility, of gaining control over GS or crushing Hamas… It emphasizes the necessity of reconsidering the objectives of the “crazed” and rabid campaign carried out by Israel, which has only resulted in further popular rallying around Hamas and the resistance line. It has fueled more momentum for the revolution against the occupation, exposed the ugly face of the occupier, disrupted normalization projects in the region and increased its international isolation. Furthermore, it has intensified pressure toward recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people to freedom, liberation, return and independence.
This article was originally published in Arabic on TRT Arabic “trt.net.tr/arabic” on 25/11/2023
Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, 27/11/2023
Leave A Comment