For 15 months a piece of land little bigger than the Brussels region has been the focus of eyes around the world, as Gaza has become the most shocking example of concentrated human suffering that much of the world has known. Whilst modern history is filled with many appalling episodes of death and displaced populations, none has been so fixed so strongly at the centre of international attention.
And none has driven such a wedge between foreign populations, as citizens watch the horror relayed to media stations around the world and dismay rises to moral outrage. The casualties are difficult to comprehend: 1,200 Israelis murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and 46,000 Palestinians in the Israeli military response. Put on a page, the numbers themselves become dehumanising.
A ceasefire is so long overdue that its announcement gives little cause for celebration. The desolation is too great and human sympathy too exhausted to envisage a future. And that's assuming the agreement would even be honoured. Netanyahu already accuses Hamas of "backtracking" whilst a reported 73 more Palestinians have been killed in the hours since news of the ceasefire broke.
The repercussions in Europe have been enormous: swathes of civil society have been infuriated by their elected representatives and some nations have forcibly repressed protest against the Israeli assault, and the hesitation or outright refusal of governments to criticise the Israeli State.
Belgium was in a small minority of Member States that spoke out against the bombardment and immense civilian misery that resulted. At the same time, Palestinians became the most represented nationality among asylum seekers in Belgium – 96% of their applications were approved and Belgium received half of all Palestinian asylum applications in the EU.
The devastation of the conflict has all but drained our capacity to hope. At time of writing, the ceasefire is supposed to come into effect on Sunday.
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