We Are Elated by the Gaza Ceasefire News. Now, the World Must Hold Israel to Account for 2 Years of Genocide
In an emotional essay, former Palestinian negotiator Diana Buttu reacts to the ceasefire announcement, what it means for Palestinians, and what still worries her.
No one is happier that Israel’s bombs will stop than Palestinians. No one. We can finally start to try to locate and bury our dead, collecting our loved ones from beneath the rubble, and begin to comprehend, collectively, what we went through for the past two years. Every day, for two years, we have held one another, physically and with our words, shielding one another from unending gaslighting and dehumanization. We have watched the most sophisticated technology transformed into the most merciless killing machines, shredding children’s bodies with cruelty I never imagined I would ever see. We saw anew what happened to our parents and grandparents in the last century, with this callous destruction of the remains of Palestine at the hands of people who have never cared for it. I am elated and relieved that it may be over. We all are. I can breathe. We can breathe.
Yet, I am worried.