Clear as Mud: Israeli-Palestine Ceasefire Is in Effect – For Now

Dr. Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, a role that’s easier to think of as the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, shouldn’t have any trouble getting straight to the point. Having spent much of his youth in Ohio and racking up degrees from Youngstown State University, the University of Akron, as well as serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Central Florida in 2002, the man seems tailor-made for diplomacy. But when pressed on the one question everyone’s asking, his answer was about as clear as mud.

The question posed to him by the BBC was simple enough:

“The Israeli prime minister has said Israeli troops will stay in Gaza until Hamas disarms. Do you see that happening?”Sugg

It’s a direct question, one that goes to the heart of whether peace in the region is even possible. Yet Mansour’s response wandered everywhere but toward an answer.

To be fair, disarmament isn’t exactly Palestine’s top priority right now. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is staggering, and any reasonable person would expect aid to be front and center. Mansour did just that, naming getting food, water, and medicine into Gaza as his number one concern. Hard to argue with that. When children are starving and hospitals are running on fumes, guns aren’t at the top of the list.

His second priority also made sense: the exchange of detainees and hostages. That’s another essential step toward building trust on both sides, and it’s something families, Israeli and Palestinian alike, are desperately hoping for.

But then came number three, and that’s where things got murky.

Instead of addressing the elephant in the room… Hamas and its weapons, Mansour pivoted. He spoke about the need for Palestinian detainees’ stories to be heard, for Israeli troops to withdraw completely, and for Gaza to be reconstructed. All valid points, but none of them answered the question. The one thing this peace plan hinges on – the disarmament of Hamas.