Letter
Palestine peace plan
Sawsan Madina is dubious about the peace plan for Gaza. But at least for now, the daily carnage stops. The interview on ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday 9 October with the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel showed that she cannot see that Israel’s actions over the last 70 years of continuing Nakba might be partly responsible for the rise of Hamas as a group using terror tactics. Haskel simply does not support there being a state of Palestine and criticised all those who do.
The UN has been totally sidelined, with Trump able to say recently that it was impotent, even though he knew that the US had rendered it so by vetoing any Security Council action. So he emerges as the peacemaker, notwithstanding the US financial, armaments and diplomatic support for Israel.
Because any peacekeeping forces from places such as Indonesia will take time to move in, Hamas will have to have at least an interim continuing role in governing southwest Palestine. Haskel is understandably very upset about 7 October 2023, but she must see that she and others in her government should now be prepared to move beyond that if peace is to be given another chance.
— Geoff Taylor from Borlu (Perth)