What Has Changed?

The ground's cracks are only growing wider

A few months back, I was in the States and while there I did a few talks, mainly with young American Jews. A lot of people asked if the US government under Trump was influenceable. Obviously I’m not an expert on Trump (thankfully), but I would share that Trump and the US government has the power and influence to move towards a ceasefire, end the genocide, and bring the release of Israeli and Palestinian hostages and prisoners. And yet, that doesn’t mean that as a public we could necessarily influence him since he isn’t working through democratic means. Something could and possibly would influence him, but it was unlikely to be us.

A few days ago, Trump pushed a ceasefire. All living Israeli civilians and soldiers being held in captivity were returned, as were around 1,500 Palestinians—most of whom were never charged for any crime and who were effectively civilian hostages as well.

I haven’t had words. For one of the first times in my life, I haven’t even really been able to get any true emotion to rise to the surface. Around me, a lot of Israelis feel a huge amount of not just relief but joy. I mainly feel tense and nervous.

I feel grateful for people able to come home and support their families being able to reunite with their loved ones after two years.

But I haven’t felt joy.

I’ve seen the many videos of Palestinians released to the West Bank and to Gaza. And I recognize and support their families who are able to reunite with their loved ones—some who’ve been gone for a few months and some for much longer.

But I haven’t felt relief.

As many have said already, it’s not that I don’t want this ceasefire—I do. I just see the immense inequality in what everyone went home to. Israeli hostages went through hell, with some accounting being held in solitude and being tortured. Palestinian hostages also went through hell, and the torture and prison conditions are well documented by now. But each went home to different realities. While Israelis celebrated on the streets, Palestinians in Ramallah were banned from doing so. Some went home to their houses, others to temporary tents.

What has changed? In many ways we went back to October 6th, 2023. On that day, I was fighting the occupation, apartheid, and Jewish supremacy that the state was implementing. And so where are we now?

It’s easy to feel at the bottom of a pit. In a lot of ways, I feel that right now. Not because people don’t or shouldn’t have any positive feelings over this deal, but because for many of us who live in the land and fight for Palestinian freedom and true equality for both people, this feels like a reality that will greenlight further violence. It already has. The West Bank is still peaking in settler and military violence, with ethnic cleansing of Area C in full swing and the destruction of refugee camps ongoing. In Gaza, many Palestinians describe the violence and chaos that is unfolding in a power vacuum with a weakened Hamas, the PA, and Israel-backed militias. Though the numbers are down significantly, Israel continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza each day.

It all feels violent. It feels fragile. It is fragile, this moment in time and for the people most affected by these political decisions.

And it’s easy to feel at the bottom because, while the world was ramping up pressure on Israel to take accountability for its actions against the Palestinian people, instead of that occurring in practice, a ceasefire was pushed from Trump and other nations, such as Qatar and Turkey, that actually doesn’t change Israel’s level of control in any meaningful way. It doesn’t demand any real change from Israel as a state power. It accepted it.

So what now?

The state structures indeed are more or less those of October 6th, but we are not.

More people have learned and acted for Palestinian self-determination and liberation. More people are demanding equality for all between the river and the sea. More people are ignited and engaged on this issue. While it may be tempting for states, who have been reluctant to hold Israel accountable, to drop the matter completely, I believe that the public (in many countries) simply won’t allow that to happen. We have seen too many images of violence, too many dead children, too many heartfelt pleas, too many brutal acts towards a whole population.

More states have starting pushing Israel to accountability. More people are showing up in solidarity in the West Bank. More people are acting in civil disobedience to demand justice. These are the type of acts we need to build a sustained movement.

And I also believe the pressure the world had been engaging in did likely lead Trump to call for a ceasefire—he simply preferred it on his terms.

This ceasefire isn’t the political outcome we want. But it is movement we can choose to use to strategize, plan, and pressure. We need to breathe, energize, and keep going until there is genuine equality for all 14 million Palestinians and Israelis. Until the structures that allowed genocide and allow ethnic cleansing to take place come to a full end and are replaced with true democracy.

But we can and will create a reality free of occupation and apartheid.