Ceasefire a priority now

US President Barack Obama has offered to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza with a view to reactivating the November 2012 truce between the two sides, but without spelling out the basis for this initiative. 

What’s more the US president seems to be putting the onus of blame for the outbreak of the recent wave of violence on Hamas. 

How can the US be an honest broker for peace between two warring peoples as long as it remains one-sided in favour of Israel? 

Obama knows very well that the US hands-off policy on the Palestinian conflict is what led to repeated outbreaks of fighting along the Gaza Strip over and above the upsurge in violence in the West Bank. 

The US is the biggest supporter of Israel — militarily, politically and economically — and therefore has leverage with Israelis to negotiate in earnest for the resolution of the Palestinian crisis, but has not done so for purely internal political reasons. 

If Washington is serious about negotiating a ceasefire that would hold for many years, it must construct the proper foundation for it. 

It is not enough to call on Hamas to cease firing rockets on Israel. It must ask itself why Gaza resorts to firing missiles deep into Israeli territory. Hamas did not do so for no reason or without provocation from Israel. 

More than 100 Palestinians have already been killed and hundreds more injured due to the heavy-handed Israeli response, most of whom are innocent civilians. 

Yes, a ceasefire is now a priority for all sides and must be the principal objective of all major powers especially the US. 

Once the dust settles, all concerned parties must ask themselves why they neglected the Palestinian conflict for so long and allowed it to escalate into open warfare every now and then.